Today, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Health Equity and Access under the Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Women and Families Act to expand immigrants’ access to crucial and comprehensive health care, marking the bill’s first-ever introduction in the Senate. Physicians for Reproductive Health joins 215 organizations in supporting this legislation. Dr. Johana Oviedo, ob/gyn in New York and Fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health issued the following statement:
“As a physician who provides care to immigrant communities, and as an immigrant myself, I applaud Sen. Booker for introducing the HEAL for Immigrant Women and Families Act. By removing politically motivated barriers for immigrants in need of support from programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the HEAL Act would take necessary steps in protecting access to health care for everyone.
“Especially as we understand the realities of our nation’s current public health crisis, it has been made abundantly clear that health care free from discrimination should be the reality across this country for every person, family, and community.”