Asian immigrants worry about health care at Oakland forum

By Matt O'Brien
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 09/16/2009 05:43:35 PM PDT
Updated: 09/16/2009 07:16:31 PM PDT

OAKLAND — There was no heckling, no rancor, just a lot of questions asked at a town hall-style meeting on health care that attracted nearly 300 Asian immigrants to a community center Wednesday.

Haiyan Wu came to the meeting worried about her future.

Laid off from her job in March and too young for Medicare, the 63-year-old Chinese immigrant said she was healthy and hoping to stay that way now that she is no longer covered by health insurance.

"I hope these two years, before I'm 65, I hope I will not get sick," she said, speaking through an interpreter. "I pray every day."

Wu was among many in the crowd wanting lawmakers to offer some kind of public health plan that they could qualify for and afford. Some also wanted to drop a five-year waiting period that would prevent new legal immigrants from getting government-sponsored health coverage.

Doctors and health care advocates were in attendance at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center to answer questions, and one of Obama's top health advisers took a polite grilling from attendees in a telephone conversation with the crowd.

Neera Tanden, senior adviser to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, spoke by phone about a bill unveiled by the Senate Finance Committee earlier in the morning. A row of interpreters translated her words into Mandarin, Cantonese, Khmer, Vietnamese, Korean and Filipino.

"The president continues to believe that a public plan is important," Tanden said when someone asked if Obama was still considering a public option. "A public plan is critically important, but it's not the entire bill."

Attendees expressed concerns to Tanden about the high percentage of Asian-Americans who lack health coverage, especially those who own or work for small, family-owned businesses.

About one in six Asian-Americans and one in four Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are uninsured, said officials from the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, which co-hosted the event with Asian Health Services.

In California, Korean-Americans have the highest rates — about one in three are uninsured.

Korean immigrant Sang-Gue Son said he thinks America can do better.

He said he suffered a stroke several years ago and now takes nine different medications for blood pressure, diabetes and a variety of other conditions. The 64-year-old Oakland resident is covered by the County Medical Services Program, which is for low-income, indigent adults, but he hopes Obama can pass something better.

Pulled to the United States in 2003 and committed to stay because his children live here, Son thinks his health would probably have been in better hands if he stayed in South Korea, which provides universal care.

"I thought everything would be better in the states," he said. "But the system in Korea is much better than here. Seniors don't have to worry."