Advocates Plan Campaign on Immigrants' Health Care

Boston Globe: Immigrant advocates in Massachusetts say they are preparing an “intense’’ lobbying effort to help about 20,000 legal immigrants who are at risk of losing their state-sponsored health care coverage under a proposal to slash state spending. The Massachusetts Immigrants and Refugee Advocacy Coalition said immigrants and their advocates plan in the coming days to make phone calls, send letters, and meet with state legislators in an attempt to save funding for the Commonwealth Care Bridge program. The program provides basic health care for about 20,000 immigrants classified as “aliens with special status.’’ Early this month, the Massachusetts House Ways and Means Committee voted to eliminate funding for the program — about $50 million — as state lawmakers try to reduce overall spending to close an estimated $1.9 billion budget gap.