Nearly 25 years ago, with the stroke of a pen, the United States broke its commitment to provide medical care for Marshall Islands residents living in the United States. This past weekend, congressional negotiators agreed to reinstate that promise, delivering Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage to tens of thousands of Marshallese and residents of several other Pacific Island nations living in the United States. “This is an historic legislation that we finally right the wrong.”The healthcare assistance comes as the COVID-19 pandemic and related job losses have hammered many Marshallese and Pacific Island communities in the United States, from Washington state to Arkansas. It also provided the Marshallese with Medicaid coverage. For decades afterward, the U.S. continued to use the islands to test biological and convention weapons.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 21, 2020 21:31 UTC