Nearly half of Anaheim’s residents are on CalOptima, a county administered public health insurance program for Orange County’s poorest residents.
The number of CalOptima enrollments has long been a way for officials to put a thumb on poverty’s pulse – the higher the enrollment rates, the poorer the area.
“If people aren’t able to afford to live, health care is always something that you put on the backburner, because of its cost,” said Marisol Ramirez, chair of the Latino Health Access board.
Anaheim residents make up 16% of CalOptima’s nearly 1 million enrollees, despite the city only constituting about 11% of Orange County’s roughly 3.2 million residents.
And 13% of the city’s residents live in poverty, according to census data.
Latino Health Access, a Santa Ana-based nonprofit, routinely assists struggling residents through food drives, access to health care resources and helping people navigate social safety nets.
Ramirez said she’s alarmed by Anaheim’s high CalOptima enrollment rate and said the local government has a responsibility to provide a pathway for people to get healthcare.
“It’s a high percentage and that’s not a good thing,” she said. “We need to really pressure our city leadership to vocalize on those matters on how we can create something that works for its constituents.”
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