Vote NO to Reduce Medical Benefits for COFA citizens in Hawaii

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser is running an online poll today: “Should the state reduce medical benefits for noncitizens, including Pacific islanders living in Hawaii under the Compact of Free Association (COFA)?”

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A member of the COFA Community Action Network suggested that this question should have been worded as, “Should all legal residents of Hawaii have access to the same medical benefits?” The fact that is being lost in the poorly worded poll is this: citizens of the Compact of Free Association (COFA) nations such as the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Republic of Palau (Palau), Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) are all legal residents of the United States. The immigration provisions of the treaty with the US enables us to live, work, go to school in the US. We are paying taxes, serving / dying in the US military just like any US citizens YET we cannot access the medical benefits for which our taxes are paying.

Please speak up and vote NO on this poll and tell your networks, friends, colleagues, family to follow suit. It’s just an informal poll, but it does brings attention to the struggles of COFA citizens in the US.

http://poll.staradvertiser.com/

The full message from Restoring Justice team

Aloha mai kakou,

Thank you very much for signing our petition on behalf of health justice and equality for U.S. residents present under the Compacts of Free Association! With your support, we have been gaining greater traction and media exposure both locally and on the national and international levels. However, we must ask for your help one more time:

Please click on this link and vote “no” on this poorly-worded Honolulu Star-Advertiser poll suggesting that Hawai’i cut medical services for noncitizens, including COFA citizens (as well as green card holders, refugees, survivors of domestic violence and trafficking, and anyone else that is not a U.S. citizen!).

Although the response has been disappointing thus far, we can still win this poll by a landslide and hopefully make a strong statement on public opinion — if we can get everyone we know to vote! Please, take a moment to click on this link and vote “No” to show that citizenship should not be a prerequisite to health justice and access to healthcare (for moral, economic, public health and social stability reasons, among others).