By California Black Media Staff

On January 1, 2020, California will enact a new law, the CROWN Act or Senate Bill 188, that protects Black women and men from discrimination in the workplace for wearing natural hairstyles.

 Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law, the first of its kind in the nation, in July. 

Authored by state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), who is African American, the bill expands the definition of racial discrimination to include hair. 

“We believe this is just the beginning of the end to hair discrimination. It’s another chink in the armor of racial discrimination in this country and I’m just proud to be part of the movement,” Mitchell said when the governor signed her bill. 

Just weeks before the law takes effect, news broke that SAG-AFTRA, the Los Angeles-based labor union representing more than 160,000 television and film industry professionals, is investigating the circumstances of popular actress Gabrielle Union’s dismissal from her job as a judge on the NBC television series “America’s Got Talent,” partly because of her rotating natural hairstyles. 

Four sources who claim to have insider information about the way decision makers at the television competition series treated Union say the actress received more than six notes describing her hairstyles as “too black.”  

Union, known for her roles in more than 25 films and as the star of the long-running BET series “Being Mary Jane,” has not made public comment about the incident. But her husband, NBA star Dwayne Wade, has tweeted about her firing. 

If Union decides to sue NBC or the show’s producers for hair discrimination, she will not be able to stand on the CROWN act, which stands for Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair, because of the timing of her case. 

But the show producers have confirmed that they are speaking with Union’s representatives to resolve their differences. 

Some Twitter users are calling for a boycott of the show. 

By California Black Media

Keeping up with the high cost of pensions in California is hurting public sector employers, city budgets and leading to the firing of some minority money managers at CalPERS, the California Public Employee Retirement System, which is valued at $387 billion, according to Bloomberg News. 

In its annual report, released in November, CalPERS confirmed that it risks falling into “low funding levels.” If this happens, the agency responsible for managing the health and pension benefits of more than a million public employees in California may not able to pay its bills or pay out its commitments. 

The League of California Cities, which represents more than 400 municipalities across the state, is alarmed by the growing mandatory payments they have to cough up to CalPERS for employee pensions and benefits, too, according to CalMatters. Between fiscal years 2016 and 2017, that number skyrocketed by more 8 billion. 

In an effort to streamline its own costs, CalPERS announced last week that it is scaling back on its “Emerging” equity fund program. Launched in 1991 to increase diversity among its portfolio managers, the program contracts external money mangers, mostly women and minority-owned firms managing assets worth less than $2 billion who are charged with investing on behalf of the largest public pension system in the United States. 

The returns those “emerging” managers were bringing in fell below the agency’s targets by 126 “basis points,” according to an agency spokesperson. 

The Rev. Al Sharpton, President and Founder of the National Action Network, said CalPERS’ decision to cut the minority money mangers is “unacceptable” and comes as a surprise to him. 

“Last year, the National Action Network and I met with Marci Frost and Ted Eliopoulis from CalPERS in Sacramento, both of whom committed to increasing the utilization of diverse asset managers across all asset classes by creating a level playing field,” Sharpton told California Black Media. “It is clear that Ted is gone and the board has inoculated the new CIO, Ben Meng, from finding and utilizing high performing talented diverse managers that reflect the diversity of the pensioners.

In an October memo, CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost said the agency is “restructuring” its emerging manager program, “reducing” the number of managers, and cutting the assets those investors manage from $3.6 billion to $500 million. 

Freweini Mebrahtu has dedicated her life to keeping girls in school by designing a reusable menstrual pad and trying to end the cultural stigma around the issue — and because of her work, she has been named the 2019 CNN Hero of the Year.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Mebrahtu said when receiving the award. “I am so humbled and grateful for CNN … this is for all the girls and women everywhere. Dignity for all.”

Online voters selected Mebrahtu as the 2019 CNN Hero of the Year award from among the Top 10 CNN Heroes finalists. Mebrahtu — who is from Ethiopia and studied chemical engineering in the US — designed and patented a reusable menstrual pad in 2005.

She and her team produce 750,000 reusable pads a year at her factory in Ethiopia. Nearly 800,000 girls and women have benefited from her work. More than 80 percent of the pads she manufactures are sold to non-governmental organizations that distribute them for free.

NABJ President Heads to Doha for Al Jazeera Press Freedom Symposium

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) President Dorothy Tucker will travel to Doha, Qatar in the coming days as part of the organization’s plans to intensify efforts to combat increasing verbal and physical attacks against journalists, including NABJ members, in the United States and abroad. 

Tucker, who was elected in August, will speak at the two-day Al Jazeera Center for Public Liberties and Human Rights’ symposium, titled “The Challenges of Press Freedom: Facing Impunity, Rule of Law and Human Rights.” 

The speech, which will be live streamed globally on December 9, will call for action and unity in the international fight for press freedom and journalists protection and share NABJ’s plan to be an active partner in the cause. Tucker plans to sign an NABJ Declaration of Partnership, meet with leaders of Al Jazeera and heads of various press freedom organizations while in Doha. 

According to a recent analysis from Reporters Without Borders’ 2019 World Press Freedom Index, the United States has been classified as a “problematic” media climate. “Of all the world’s regions, it is the Americas (North and South) that have suffered the greatest deterioration in its regional score measuring the level of press freedom,” the analysis states.
More than a year after NABJ passed a resolution condemning the U.S. Administration’s detrimental actions, statements and hostile attitude toward press freedom, NABJ is disheartened that progress has not been made. As a world leader, other countries follow the United State’s example and now more than ever we have seen a rise in not only the disrespectful and demeaning attacks that some Black journalists have experienced while covering their beats — such as the White House — but also in the rise in dangerous work environments for international journalists, sadly leading to violence, imprisonment and death.

“America must do better and governments worldwide must do better. No journalist should be attacked or harmed for simply striving to do their jobs effectively. Action must be taken because at this very moment a journalist somewhere in this world is being treated like a criminal or worse,” said NABJ President Dorothy Tucker. “The United States should be ashamed that esteemed journalists and NABJ members like April D. Ryan (American Urban Radio Networks, CNN), Joy-Ann Reid (MSNBC), Abby Phillip (CNN), and Yamiche Alcindor (PBS NewsHour) have been consistently and publicly verbally attacked by our own president for simply asking the important and tough questions that citizens deserve answers to. And, unfortunately, efforts to dilute and destroy press freedom abroad hit closer to home than one may think.”

During its National Convention in South Florida this summer, NABJ celebrated two Black journalists who have brought to light the heart-wrenching deaths of international journalists whose murders were a result of reporting on their governments. NABJ’s 2019 Journalist of the Year Karen Attiah, Washington Post Global Opinions editor, boldly used her platform and the pages of her Opinions section to sound the alarm on the disappearance and subsequent murder of her colleague Jamal Khashoggi. 
As Khashoggi’s editor, Attiah advocated for justice on his behalf after it was revealed that agents connected to the Saudi government were responsible for his murder. Khashoggi was forced to flee Saudi Arabia in 2017 and, upon Attiah’s recommendation, the Post hired him as a Global Opinions columnist. 

This summer, NABJ also honored Pap Saine, co-publisher and managing editor of The Point newspaper in The Gambia as the recipient of the 2019 Percy Qoboza Foreign Journalist of the Year Award. Saine has been arrested, criminally charged and imprisoned in the West African country for simply doing his job as a reporter. In 2009, he was sentenced to two years in prison with five other journalists for using his platform to criticize then-Gambian President Yahyah Jammeh’s comments about press freedom and the unsolved murder of his colleague and newspaper co-founder Deyda Hydara, a previous NABJ Percy Qoboza honoree. While he was eventually pardoned, he continued to endure harassment from the government.
Also, during NABJ’s Convention, media partner Al Jazeera shared the story of one of its journalists and the persecution he has endured. Mahmoud Hussein, who has been detained in Egypt for more than 1,100 days, since December 20, 2016, was allegedly accused of  “incitement against state institutions and broadcasting false news with the aim of spreading chaos.” 
According to Al Jazeera, Hussein’s incarceration is unfounded and has breached Egypt’s penal code, which sets a maximum pretrial detention period of 620 days for individuals being investigated for a felony. NABJ agrees with the International Press Institute’s call for the penal code to be upheld.

These stories are just some of the shameful incidents occurring around the world to muzzle journalists.

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, led by the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Committee to Protect Journalists, in collaboration with other press freedom groups, reports that in the United States:

• 32 U.S. journalists have faced physical attacks so far in 2019
• 5 were killed in 2018
• 46 faced physical attacks in 2017
• Since 2017, 55 U.S. reporters have been attacked while covering protests

The Committee to Protect Journalists also reports that:

• 40 journalists and media workers have been killed to date in 2019 worldwide
• 64 journalists are missing worldwide so far in 2019
• 251 journalists were imprisoned in 2018

NABJ applauds these organizations for their valiant efforts to ensure that attacks on press freedom and the journalism profession do not go unnoticed and will endeavor to partner with such organizations to help advance this cause.

“As the attacks on press freedom continue to grow across the globe, we implore all governments to condemn any behavior that promotes the silencing of journalists and undue interference with their work, which in turn infringes on the public’s right to have access to information without censorship,” Tucker said.

Tucker is also extending NABJ’s support to the International Press Institute, Al Jazeera Media Network, the International News Safety Institute, and the Africa Media Initiative and their development of theInternational Declaration on the Protection of Journalists. The declaration outlines guidelines to ensure a global culture of safety for media professionals and offers important solutions to cease the harm that is being done to the journalism profession. We encourage all news companies, the United States government and other nations worldwide to consider adopting the solutions offered in the declaration.

Among its many solutions, the declaration states:

• All journalists, media professionals and associated personnel have the right to protection from all human rights violations and abuses, including through killing, torture, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, expulsion, intimidation, harassment, threats, etc.

• Journalists, media professionals and associated personnel whose fundamental rights and freedoms have been violated must be granted legal, medical and psychological aid in case such violations occur. Perpetrators of such violations should be brought to justice and denied immunity.

According to Tucker, NABJ will work with and support the International Press Institute, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Fallen Journalists Memorial Foundation, and others to continue to call attention to lives that have been lost or impacted by efforts to suppress and, in many cases, kill press freedom.

By Naomi K. Bonman

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—- On Monday, January 20, 2020, several community organizations will be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy with the San Bernardino Dr. Martin Luther King Day Parade Extravaganza and Awards Gala. The parade will be held on the west end of San Bernardino starting at Arroyo High School located at 1881 W Base Line Street in San Bernardino at 11 a.m. The parade will end Graciano Gomez Elementary School located at 1480 W 11^th Street in San Bernardino. The parade and expo will end at 4 p.m.

The organizations behind the parade include: Youth Build Charter School Inland Empire, the Southern California Black Chamber of Commerce, Young Visionaries Leadership Academy, The Black Cultural Foundation and LUE Productions along with other community entities.

The SB MLK DAY PARADE will be an informative and educational event, in which the entire community can enjoy. The day will consist of parade activities followed by entertainment and a vendor extravaganza that will showcase local talent, an art walk, food, classic cars and celebrity guest.

The Awards Gala which will honor key sponsors, community members, and community organizations that have contributed time and resources in the beautiful City of San Bernardino. Awards Gala set to take place Saturday, January 18th, 2020 in the City of San Bernardino.

The committee is currently seeking sponsorship, car and float entries, vendors, performers and volunteers. For more information or to get involved, visit www.blackchamberofcommerce.org.

By Tanu Henry | California Black Media

Black Republicans in California are focused and organizing. 

They want to “reintroduce” African Americans in the state to the GOP, Black Republican leaders and activists say.

By increasing the number of Black Republicans holding political office in the state and inspiring more Black Californians to vote red, they believe their efforts will purple the deep blue African-American vote in the fourth bluest of blue states in the country, according to a ranking by The Hill, a Washington D.C.-based website that covers the U.S. Congress, Presidency and national politics.

“We are Black first, then Republican,” says Corrin Rankin, 45, a GOP activist and delegate who splits her time between homes in San Mateo and San Joaquin counties.

“We believe Republican policies are more in line with our values as Black Americans than democratic policies,” says Rankin. “We believe in low taxes, small and efficiently-run governments, and limited regulation. The more regulations you have, the less people – especially people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds – are able to get involved in any industry.”

Last February, at the state Republican convention, Rankin says she and other African-American conservatives who attended decided to organize themselves and form an association called the Legacy Republican Alliance (LRA), a political action committee, after they found out the California Republican Party had a directive to not reach out to Black voters.

“We understand from a business perspective that the number of Black Republicans in the state is relatively small, but that was not the right way to go for the party,” she says. “There were other ethnic organizations at the convention. That’s why we decided to create the LRA, to increase our numbers and make our voices heard so that we can have a seat at the table.”

California has the fifth largest Black population in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.   African Americans account for about 6.5 percent of the state’s total population of nearly 40 million people.

Democrats in California make up 72 percent of Black registered voters, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Six percent of those African-American likely voters are Republican. Independents account for about 20 percent.

And there are no Black Republicans who are members of the state legislature or among California’s delegations to the United States Congress.

But some African-American leaders in the California Democratic Party are concerned that their party has not done a good job empowering Blacks when it comes to things like organizing voter registrations and encouraging voter participation. Many point out, too, that fellow Democrats at the state, county and local levels often overlook issues important to African Americans like failing schools and the high cost of housing, and they sometimes advance public policies that disproportionally impact Blacks as well as middle class and lower-income families.

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Those Black Democratic leaders – two of them spoke with California Black Media off the record for this article – say those missteps by their party cause them to work harder to ensure that their party remains the first choice for Black Californians.

But Taisha Brown, who was sworn in chair of the California Democratic Party African American Caucus last month, says Black support of the Democratic Party and elected Democrats in the state has never been stronger. And with more African-American Democrats being appointed to influential leadership positions in the state, she is confident things are moving in the right direction.

“We may not see eye-to-eye on every issue as Democrats in California, but we still stand with each other, and we support a party where there is room to have difficult conversations that allow us to move forward together in good faith as we work for a better California, a better country, a better life for all of our families,” she said. “Now, more than ever, we have to listen to each other and think about how the things we fight for impact all of us.”

Since the LRA was formed, Rankin says the group has launched a website and focused on informing Black Californians that Republican policies on employment, business, education, taxation, criminal justice reform, community-police relations and criminal justice reform are better for their families and communities.

They have also been actively raising money to support Black Republican candidates and LRA members, including Navy veteran Joe Collins who is running for U.S. Congress against Rep. Maxine Waters in the 43^rd district which covers the Los Angeles area; Aja Smith, an Air Force vet, also running for U.S. Congress against Democratic Rep. Mark Takano in the 41^st district in the Inland Empire; Tamika Hamilton, another Air Force vet running for Congress against Democratic Rep. John Garamendi in the 3^rd Congressional district west of Sacramento; and Major Williams who is running for mayor of Pasadena.

Another member of the LRA, Jonathan Madison, has been elected Regional Vice Chair of the Bay Area GOP.

In April of this year, the California Republican Assembly (CRA), a statewide conservative activist group former California Gov. and U.S. President Ronald Reagan called “the conscience of the Republican Party,” elected Johnnie Morgan, 68, as its first African-American president for a three-year term.

Morgan says one of his main goals as CRA president is to recruit more African Americans and Independents to join the California Republican Party.  

“African Americans place a high value on family as does the Republican Party,” Morgan told California Black Media.

Rankin is encouraging Black Californians who want to make a difference in their communities to reach out to the LRA for mentorship and guidance on how to get elected to county or municipal office.

“You can run for city council or your local school board and represent yourself, your interests, your neighbors and your community,” she says.

Rankin says the LRA is building a framework in California that it hopes to take nationwide.

“Our state is in desperate need of diverse and thoughtful leaders who will bring a much-needed, new approach to solving California’s toughest challenges,” she says.  

By California Black Media Staff

Landlords Are Hiking Rents Before Rent Control Law Takes Effect

Before a new rent control law Gov. Newsom signed in October goes into effect in January, some landlords around the state are trying trying to get ahead of the restrictions they see coming by slapping tenants now with double-digit rent increases and no-violation evictions.

AB 1482, the Tenant Protection Act of 2019, will the amount landlords can hike rents within one year to 5 percent, plus local inflation. It will also protect tenants who have rented a place for more than one year from no-violation evictions.

The law only exempts rented single family homes and condos that are not owned by corporations.

There are reports from all around the state about the sudden new rent increases and rise in evictions. According to a renter advocacy group “Tenants Together” about 36 cities – including Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pasadena and Stockton – have responded by passing local ordinances to prevent evictions or place temporary moratoriums on rent increases.

The good news is that once the law goes into effect next year, any rents raised since March 2019, the month the bill was referred to the Legislature, will drop back to what they were at the time. But evictions that happened in that same period will not be reversed.

“Tenants Together” says there are legal resources and vital information available to help Californians affected by rent hikes. Communities can also pressure their local governments to pass urgent ordinances against the practices.

Some landlords are pushing back, saying that this period before the signed bill becomes law allows them an 11^th-hour chance to bring the rent on their properties up to market prices and get rid of bad tenants.

Gov. Newsom Wants to Close One State Prison

Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this month that he wants to close at least one state prison in California – where there is a disproportionate number of African Americans serving sentences in the state penitentiary system the Department of Correction and rehabilitation mostly runs and costs taxpayers more than $15 billion a year.

Although African Americans only make up about 5.6 percent of California’s population, Black prisoners account for more than 28 percent of all inmates in state prison.

The governor has neither decided which prison he wants to close nor spelled out how he would go about doing it – taking into account  jobs, other local concerns, sentence reductions, etc., – but he says the issue is “personal” to him.

“I would like to see, in my lifetime and hopefully my tenure, that we shut down a state prison,” he said. “But you can’t do that flippantly. And you can’t do that without the support of the unions, support of these communities, the staff, and that requires an alternative that can meet everyone’s needs and desires.”

Moving California away from over-focusing on punishment to strengthening prevention programs, as well as providing rehabilitation and reintegration assistance for formerly incarcerated people, is his priority, said Newsom.

The state is investing $20 million in the 2019-20 budget to help formerly incarcerated people successfully reintegrate into their communities through the California Community Reinvestment Grant program.

Why You Should Be Paying Attention to Prop 13  

About 65 percent of Californians are happy with Prop 13, according to CalMatters.

It is a 1978 ballot measure that limits the amount of tax that can be applied to a home or commercial space to 2 percent of the property value a year and 1 percent of the same amount when it is sold.

But recently, there has been rising support among people around the state for revising parts of Prop 13 to allow larger tax increases on commercial properties, but not on homes.

If the more than 400 civic and political groups – as well as elected officials, activists and ordinary citizens – backing the proposal get their way, and the initiative gets placed on the 2020 ballot, it could play out to be one of the biggest political fights in the state next year.

Supporters of the “Schools and Community First” initiative say new tax revenues from commercial properties would generate around $12 billion in much-needed funding for public services and education around the state.

Gov. Recaps State Efforts to Fight Wildfires and Help People Affected PG&E Blackouts

Last week, Gov. Newsom recapped in detail the different ways the state mobilized resources to help Californians, including people with disabilities, in response to the recent wildfires and PG&E blackouts in October that affected more than a million people in at least 35 counties.

He said all state agencies –  concerned with everything from health and social services to business, transportation and public safety – joined hands with non-profits and private companies like AT&T, Adobe, Apple, Google, Facebook, and more, to help affected Californians who needed it most.

“Faced with the unprecedented decision by PG&E to leave millions of Californians without power, the State of California sprung into action to protect vulnerable residents,” said Gov. Newsom. “Our world-class emergency responders and emergency agencies battled on multiple fronts – dangerous fire conditions and Public Safety Power Shutoffs. Through prepositioning of firefighting assets and mobilizing emergency response systems, California was able to avoid the major loss of life that has occurred under similar conditions.”

The Governor said the state has also kicked off a $75 million program to help state and local governments provide assistance to their residents during shutoffs.A new website,  RESPONSE.CA.GOV, will also “serve as a one-stop portal for resources available to Californians impacted by wildfires and power shutoffs,” the governor’s office said. 

Write by Naomi K. Bonman

On Saturday, November 23, the Inland Valley News celebrated it’s 22nd Annual Celebration of Excellence Awards Gala & Charity Auction. The celebration was held at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, California.

This year’s honorees were Hilda Kennedy, founder and president of AMPAC Business Capital; Josie Gonzalez, Supervisor 5th District San Bernardino County; Joseph Williams, Trustee San Bernardino Community College District; R. Michelle Decker, Chief Executive Officer, The Community Foundation; Michael G. Rademaker, CEO & Founder MGR Real Estate; George Jones, Esq. Kathy Patoff; Monk Hines; Sherie Rodgers; and Alise Clouser.

The proceeds from the event went to support the Morrow Pancreatic Health Foundation (MPHF). The MPHF will provide prevention, education and awareness around pancreatic related illnesses to underserved communities and populations that are prone to inadequate healthcare.

For more information and to view more photos, please visit www.inlandvalleynews.com.

By Ana B. Ibarra | Special to California Black Media Partners

Russell Desmond received a letter a few weeks ago from the American Kidney Fund (AKF) that he said felt like “a smack on the face.”

The organization informed Desmond, who has kidney failure and needs dialysis three times a week, that it will no longer help him pay for his private health insurance plan – to the tune of about $800 a month.

“I am depressed about the whole situation,” said the 58-year-old Sacramento resident. “I have no clue what I’m going to do.”

Desmond has Medicare, but it doesn’t cover the entire cost of his care. So, with assistance from AKF, he pays for a private plan to cover the difference.

Now, the fund, which helps about 3,700 Californians pay their premiums and out-of-pocket costs, is threatening to pull out of California because of a new state law that is expected to cut into the dialysis industry’s profits – leaving patients like Desmond scrambling.

The letter portrayed the fund as helpless. “We are heartbroken at this outcome,” it read. “Ending assistance in California is the last thing we want to do.”

But supporters of the new law are calling the threat a scare tactic. State Assemblyman Jim Wood (D- Healdsburg), the author of AB-290, said there is nothing in the measure that prohibits the fund from continuing to provide financial assistance to patients.

“AKF has simply made a conscious decision, without merit, to leave the state despite the many accommodations I made by amending the bill in the Senate to ensure that it can continue to operate in California,” Wood said in a written statement.

What’s behind this dispute, critics of AKF Say, is the tight relationship between the fund and the companies that provide dialysis, which filters the blood of people whose kidneys are no longer doing the job.

People on dialysis usually qualify for Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people 65 and older, and those with kidney failure and certain disabilities. If they’re low income, they may also qualify for Medicaid, which is called Medi-Cal in California.

But dialysis companies can get higher reimbursements from private insurers than from public coverage. And one way to keep dialysis patients on private insurance is by giving them financial assistance from AKF, which helps nearly 75,000 low-income dialysis patients across the country.

The fund gets most of its money from DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care, the two largest dialysis companies in the country. The fund does not disclose its donors, but an independent audit of its finances conducted by the accounting firm CliftonLarsenAllen, LLP,  reveals that 82 percent of its funding in 2018 – nearly $250 million –  came from two companies.

Insurance plans, consumer advocacy groups and unions have accused AKF of helping dialysis providers steer patients into private insurance plans in exchange for donations from the dialysis industry. Wood said his bill is intended to discourage that practice.

 AKF CEO LaVarne Burton denied the accusations and said her group plays no role in patients’ coverage choices.

Starting in 2022, the new law will limit the private-insurance reimbursement rate that dialysis companies receive for patients who get assistance from groups such as AKF to the rate that Medicare pays. The rate change won’t apply to patients who are currently receiving assistance as long as they keep the same health plans. The bill will also address a similar dynamic in drug treatment programs.

To determine which patients receive financial aid, the law will require third-party groups to disclose patients’ names to health insurers starting July 1, 2020.

These disclosure requirements are spurring AKF’s decision to leave, Burton said. She argues that they conflict with federal rules and violate patient privacy.

“AKF has no choice but to leave or seek legal relief,” Burton said.

In mid-October, the fund started sending letters to its financial aid recipients in California warning of its departure. And Nov. 1, it joined two dialysis patients in filing suit against the state, asking a U.S. District Court to rule the law unconstitutional.

Gov. Gavin Newsom cautioned against such actions when he signed the bill, and urged “both opponents and supporters to put patients first.”

But as the threats and legal battle play out, patients are caught “squarely in the middle,” said Bonnie Burns, a consultant with California Health Advocates, a Medicare advocacy group.

Their options may be limited, she said. Those who don’t work won’t have access to employer-sponsored coverage to make up the difference. And in California, Medicare recipients under age 65 are not eligible to purchase supplemental insurance known as Medigap.

The state Department of Managed Health Care offers a fact sheet for affected patients, directing them to programs such as Covered California and Medi-Cal.  

Paige Hosler, vice president of insurance management at DaVita, said insurance counselors and social workers at the company’s clinics are working with patients to find other options. “We will continue to treat all patients, regardless of insurance status,” she said.

Hosler noted that some patients may qualify for DaVita’s charity care program. 

Dialysis companies have been at the center of recent legislative and ballot-box battles, and have spent big to defend their bottom lines. Last year, they poured a record-breaking $111 million into a campaign to defeat Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that would have capped their profits. The measure failed. 

The industry also spent about $2.5 million in California on lobbying and campaign contributions in the first half of this year to oppose Wood’s measure. 

Desmond said he understands why lawmakers targeted the dialysis industry but can’t fathom why they did so at the expense of patients.

Desmond was laid off from his job as a computer programmer in Massachusetts in 2009 and moved to California to join his brother. One year later, he was diagnosed with kidney failure.

He lives off his Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, which come to about $2,000 a month after his Medicare premiums are deducted. Medicare pays for 80 percent of his care.

He also qualifies for Medi-Cal coverage that comes with high out-of-pocket costs, so he relies instead on a private Aetna insurance plan to cover the remaining 20 percent.  The American Kidney Fund has been paying the premiums for his private plan since 2015. 

“What they did is take away our life raft and left us to drown,” he said of lawmakers.

Brian Carroll, 40, of Sacramento, has been on dialysis for five years. He moved back in with his parents in 2016 because, he said, dialysis left him too weak to work. 

“I am now completely depending on other people,” Carroll said. AKF pays the $270 monthly premium for his private insurance plan that covers what Medicare doesn’t.

“That’s an entire month of groceries and gas for me,” he said. 

Carroll said he supported Proposition 8, even though dialysis companies argued that it would force them to cut back services and shut down clinics.

In this current situation, he’s not sure whom to blame – the lawmakers, who passed the law with no back-up plan for patients, or the fund, which is essentially holding patients hostage.

“What I do know is that you can’t just leave dialysis patients like this,” Carroll said. “It’s cruel.”

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This story was produced by Kaiser Health News (KHN), which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. KHN is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

It’s time to take gloves off on a very crucial Census in 2020

Judging from the flat and barely noticeable national conversation on the critical importance of needed mass Black participation in the Census, it’s business as usual from various community organizations who are rolling out campaigns eleventh hour.

The problem is that not only have these campaigns failed to achive an urgent, fevered pitch, but the messaging has not been crafted in such a way that makes the conversation relatable to the broader Black audience which needs all hands on deck for this exercise. Response to the urgency of the Census should be done in a way reminiscent of mass Black-oriented marketing successes such as Marvel’s Black Panther film and the first release of the Popeye’s franchise chicken sandwich.

Priorities.

That hasn’t happened, yet. The scheduled 2020 Census promises to – once again – dramatically decrease the official Black population in the United States. The consequences of this are both enormous and fatally dangerous to Black communities nationwide. This is, clearly, by design and reflects a centuries-long, ongoing and nefarious effort by the federal government to actively diminish and “disappear” the presence of Black people in the United States through any means at their disposal. Indeed, the Census has been weaponized in such a way. Take a look at undercount trends since 1950.

We know the Census Bureau won’t take any major steps towards rectifying or correcting undercounts because it never has. In fact, it’s more involved in underfunding itself or looking for creative ways to streamline its mandated responsibility as opposed to doing it fully and comprehensively.

That burden of increased Census participation will fall on us.

This cannot be business as usual on the part of Black grassroots and community advocate infrastructure which includes large organizations such as the National Urban League, the NAACP and the National Action Network to name a few. Black churches should be mobilizing congregations every Sunday while every effort is made to reach every visible and/or known Black person in every venue including schools, barbershops, hair salons, nail places, parks, sports games, concerts, and through urban radio. That effort should coincide with or be attached to aggressive voter mobilization efforts. Instead, the Census conversation and campaign effort seems very grasstops at the moment; it’s a box checked off by social network groups, fraternities and sororities looking for community service points.

But, we can’t be cute about this. No stone should be left unturned. Every creative effort should be made to ensure every Black person possible is answering the 10-question Census, by 1) mailed questionnaire, by 2) phone or 3) online. Every effort should be made to ensure households know when to look out for their unique identifier in the mail, the ID they’ll need to take the Census online, which will look this

… and to not consider if junk mail.

Yet, there are no visible signs of anything ambitious or a tipping point national moment where the public is freaking out over predicted mass undercounts of Black persons – and, yes, we should be freaking out about it.

Here are several key points to push when having that Census conversation:

Don’t Make Yourself Invisible

That’s pretty much what an undercount amounts to: making Black people disappear. And if you want the federal government, in collusion with state and local governments who rely on this “authoritative” data to consider you as not existing then, go ahead, be our guest and don’t take the Census. While we keep saying the national Black population is 13 percent, it’s really 15 percent or more.

The Census Bureau itself, in a casual “our bad” mea culpa, admitted to undercounts back in 2010 after the last decennial exercise …

Notice how the Black undercount was the most significant compared to all other racial groups?

Indeed, notice the states with the highest concentrations of Black residents are projected to experience the most drastic medium-to-high risk undercounts, according to the Urban Institute graphic below …

Fewer Black People = Less Political Representation

Don’t let obscure or very academic terms used to describe important elements of the Census put you to sleep. Stay alert. When you’re not counted in the Census, your community loses the 1) “apportionment” game – which means you lose Members of Congress to represent you in the Congress. Fewer members of Congress means you not only lose representation, but you just lost out on a chance at federal resources, responsiveness and money. In addition, you also lose the 2) “redistricting” game – which means the Congressional, state legislator or local lawmaker district you live in not only loses clout, but the fewer Black people counted in it means the lawmaker is conveniently less inclined to take you seriously … because, once again, he/she is under the official impression that, well, “there’s not that many of them living in my district, anyway.”

Your Community Will Get Fewer to No Federal Dollars

The last 2010 Census determined how nearly $700 billion in federal funds would get distributed to communities for everything from schools, roads, Medicaid, school lunches, grants and more. This 2020 Census raises that stake to $900 billion – and that doesn’t even include the appropriation of billions of dollars more policymakers will determine based on existing Census data. These are the top 10 federal programs most reliant on federal dollars from the 2010 Census, according to the Tax Policy Center …

Undercounts Exacerbate “Gentrification,” the Affordable Living Crisis and Food Insecurity

Lots of people are upset about “gentrification” and the displacement of urban Black populations that happens as a result of higher rents, escalating housing prices and bad schools – but, no one is talking about participating fully in the Census as a strategy to help solve that.

It’s simple: the fewer Black people counted in a community gives landlords, real estate developers, employers, grocery stores, mass transit agencies and school districts a variety of excuses to make living standards that much harder for economically distressed and already strapped Black populations …

• Rents are systematically raised because the impression, based on Census data, is that more middle-class White professionals who can afford higher rent have moved in.
• Housing prices spike up and homes become unaffordable because, well, there is less of the financially-distressed population in that geographic space.
• Businesses rely on Census data, as well, among one of several research tools to determine if it’s feasible for them to set up shop in a community. Fewer businesses in a community mean fewer market options and fewer jobs for people living in that community – meaning residents have to travel farther to get to a job. But, then …
• Mass transit agencies cut bus routes and other services if they believe (or use the Census data to believe) they are fewer people in a community to service.
• Grocery stores won’t build if it’s perceived the market conditions aren’t ideal, based on Census data, hence the expansion of food deserts leading to food insecurity … and, well, more “dollar stores” with unhealthy, cheap carcinogenic food to buy.
• School districts are slow to invest in, renovate or improve neighborhood schools if Census data show fewer families and children to service.

Source: https://thebenote.com/