Parents’ status puts some children’s health care in jeopardy [San Francisco Chronicle]

On a recent rainy morning in Los Angeles, Maria Bernal’s stove clicks to life with a bright blue flame to toast bread on a griddle for her 9-year-old son, Edwin, to smear with peanut butter. As she scoops papaya chunks into the blender for a smoothie, she recalls her worry during all the years when she couldn’t afford health care and he suffered painful ear infections. The waiting six months to get an appointment for Edwin at a county facility. The nights trying to calm him as he cried in constant pain. The months-long wait for each of three surgeries to insert tubes into his ears. The fear when the medical bills arrived. At the time, she couldn’t afford health care, and he was not eligible for regular government-funded Medi-Cal coverage because she had brought Edwin to the United States from Mexico without authorization when he was 1. He qualified for a local program and emergency Medi-Cal, but that didn’t provide all the care he needed. more