Advocates worry about federal cuts to Medicaid

Good Morning, I’m Katie Hyson, in for Debbie Cruz …. it’s Tuesday, March 4th>>>>

Health advocates worry proposed federal cuts to medicaid will hurt vulnerable populations.More on that next. But first ... let’s do the headlines …#######

The Shelter Island Basin in San Diego Bay is reopening to civilian boaters.

This comes after military crews recovered more than 15 tons of wreckage from a Navy fighter jet that crashed into the bay.

The Navy jet went down on February 12th after its two crew members ejected.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

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Over the weekend San Diego F-C played its first home match at Snapdragon Stadium against the St. Louis City S-C.

The match ended in a scoreless tie and broke attendance records, but an injury and homophobic chant dulled the celebration.

The team’s star player, Hirving “Chucky” (CHOOKY) Lozano, left the game in the first half with a lower body injury.

The second half featured three instances of an offensive chant frequently heard at the Mexican national team’s soccer matches.

The club says it will take immediate steps to address the fans' behavior, and will put out a plan before its next home match.

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More rain is on the way.

The National Weather Service says a weak atmospheric river will move into So Cal tomorrow (Wednesday) evening, bringing widespread and heavier rainfall from tomorrow (Wednesday) night through Thursday morning.

Here’s Meteorologist Alex Tardy.

“The rainfall intensity will be significant. Especially on thursday. So we’re going to be looking at some heavy rain, even in urban areas.”  

Scattered showers will continue from late Thursday morning through Friday afternoon.

There is also a chance of an isolated thunderstorm or two as cold air moves into the area. If that happens, the main hazards would be lightning, heavy rain, erratic winds, and small hail.

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From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.

A new statewide poll reveals overwhelming support across all political parties for Medi-Cal, California's version of Medicaid health insurance for low-income residents.

As proposed federal cuts loom, health reporter Heidi De Marco says health advocates fear vulnerable populations could be at risk.

A new poll shows Nearly 3 out of 4 Californians across political party affiliations want to keep Medi-Cal unchanged. The California Health Care Foundation and the University of Chicago found two-thirds of people polled say they are worried that MediCal recipients won’t be able to get the same level of care in the future.

Medi-Cal covers almost 300,000 children in San Diego county. Mayra Alvarez runs The Children's Partnership. It's an advocacy organization for children's health equity. She says Medi-Cal is a lifeline.

Everything from emergencies to preventive care to just going to the doctor to get those developmental screenings to make sure your baby's growing up right. Those are all critical pieces that medi-cal provides families, that peace of mind, that security that comes with having health insurance coverage.

Health policy experts say if most of the proposed federal spending cuts come from Medicaid, it could mean a 10% drop in federal funding across the state. That could leave over 100,000 people in San Diego County without health care coverage. Heidi de Marco, KPBS News.

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Tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as increased tariffs on China, start today (Tuesday). That’s the word from the Trump administration.

Reporter John Carroll visited a local manufacturing company that is bracing for the hikes.

It fluctuates, but between 80 and 100 people work in good-paying manufacturing jobs at Hyspan Precision Products in Chula Vista. The company makes various products like pipes and expansion joints used in piping systems—all of which require aluminum and steel.

The 25-percent hike in tariffs on our neighbors, along with the extra 10-percent on Chinese products, has Hyspan CEO and President Eric Barnes worried. Some of his company’s products are shipped down to a maquiladora in Mexico before coming back to the U.S.

“This entity is composed of this plant here, as well as we have a maquila down in Tijuana, so we will be directly impacted by the 25% tariff if it’s coming back into the United States.”

Barnes says the company simply cannot absorb all the tariff costs, which means passing some of the costs on to customers. He says that makes Hyspan less competitive—a situation no business leader wants to be in.

John Carroll, KPBS News

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A German tourist has spent more than a month in U.S. immigration custody. Her friends tell border reporter Gustavo Solis that she's experienced a terrifying ordeal … and just wants to go home.

It was supposed to be a perfect reunion.

“We were going to have a month of just making art. That was our plan.”

That’s Amelia Lofving. She’s a designer who recently moved to Los Angeles. Talking about her friend. Jessica Brösche - a German tattoo artist spending the winter in Mexico.

At the end of January, they were planning to spend a weekend in Tijuana, cross the border, and drive up to LA … where they would hang out together for a few weeks before Brösche headed home.

We had printed out her return ticket. She was supposed to fly the 15 th of February back to Berlin.

But Brösche never made it to Los Angeles. She’s been in federal immigration custody since January 25 - the day they tried to cross through the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

“They Look at Jessica’s passport … and then they’re like OK she needs to go to a secondary screening. I look at her and go, ‘I’m going to wait right outside for you.”

Lofving waited two hours before a Customs and Border Protection, or CBP agent delivered the bad news.

She says the agent accused Brösche of planning to violate the terms of her tourist visa by working as a tattoo artist.

“She’s like, here’s what’s going to happen. Your friend is getting deported. And I’m like OK, there’s nothing we can do about that? She says no, she’s getting deported. I’m like OK, fine, what’s going to happen. She’s like, she’s going to call you in a couple of days from Germany.”

But that’s not what happened ... it would be 25 days before Lofving saw her friend again. Brösche has spent that entire time in federal detention, where she remains waiting to be deported.

KPBS independently confirmed that Brösche is currently in federal custody. She was first detained by CBP … then was transferred to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detention center in Otay Mesa. Neither agency would comment on the specifics of the case.

I’m a dumb artis. I don’t know what to do in these situations. I don’t know where to look. I post online - hey guys, help me out. I can’t find Jessica. This is what’s happening. Does anyone know what they can do? And my social media goes crazy.”

Those posts got thousands of views. Using publicly available databases, online sleuths tracked Brösche to the Otay Mesa Detention Center. One of those posts caught the eye of Ashley Paschen.

“I was actually just doom scrolling TikTok and came across a video.”

Paschen lives close to the detention center.

“At the end she asked - is there anybody in the area that can put eyes on her and help? And I just messaged her.”

Paschen says she’s not a lawyer … or an activist. But something about the story just grabbed her … so she went to visit Brösche.

I think mostly, it was just the mom in me. Her mom hasn’t heard from her and doesn't know where she is. At that point, on one had had any contact with her at all.”

A few weeks later - with Paschen’s help - Lofving was able to visit her friend.

“Finally, I can see Jessica. I was crying. I’m just like, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.’ she’s like stop saying sorry it’s not your fault. You didn’t know.

And that’s when Lofving says heard about her friend's experience.

“When I saw Jessica on Saturday, she says yea for the first nine days she was held in a cell. No one spoke to her. None of the guards said anything. She says it was like a horror movie. There were people screaming from all the rooms around. they are feeding her food through a little mailbox hole. She says she didn’t have a blanket. She didn’t have a pillow. It’s basically a yoga mat on the ground and a toilet in the corner.”

Brösche spent 9 days in that CBP facility - which appears to be a violation of agency’s own detention standards of only holding people for 72 hours in those short-term facilities. Again, CBP would not comment on the specifics of the case, citing privacy concerns.

“After nine days, she says she started freaking the f*** out. And punching all the walls and then there was blood everywhere.”

Lofving says she would see bruises on her friend’s knuckles from that episode. Brösche was transferred to Otay Mesa on February 2, according to a statement from ICE.

According to a separate memo from ICE - the average cost of detaining adult noncitizens is $264 per day. So, detaining Brösche for more than a month has cost American taxpayers roughly $5,000.

A one-way flight from San Diego to Berlin cost between $500 and $600.

“Why are the American taxpayers spending thousands of dollars detaining tourists who are perfectly willing to leave.”

Immigrant rights activists say this story is an example of the country’s broken immigration system.

“It speaks to how inefficient this whole situation is.”

That’s Pedro Rios. He is with the American Friends Service Committee.

“The whole process is absurd. It doesn’t make sense. There’s a lack of appreciation for how to make things run smoothly and in the process people are suffering.”

As of Monday, Brösche was still in detention with no word as to when she’d be going home.

Gustavo Solis, KPBS News

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The city of Lemon Grove has seen a huge increase in its homeless population.

It increased by 85 percent between the 2023 and 2024 point in time count.

Reporter Melissa Mae says the city is now getting a big state grant to help with housing.

Lemon Grove Mayor Alysson Snow says the homeless population in Lemon Grove has increased to about 300 people and about half of them live in encampments along State 94 and North Avenue.

Now the city has been awarded more than eight million dollars in a state grant for rapid rehousing,

The Regional Task Force on Homelessness will oversee the program.

Tamera Koehler is the Task Force’s CEO.

“It allows us to dedicate no less than 85% of that funding purely for outreach, engagement, rental subsidies, intensive care management, landlord engagement, housing retention services and supports for housing stability.”

The grant money could be issued within the next 90 days and once the grant is executed, the city and the task force have two years to use all the funding. Melissa Mae KPBS News.

That’s it for the podcast today. Just a reminder, President Donald Trump will deliver an address to Congress tonight (Tuesday) at 6 p-m. You can watch or listen to it on kpbs.org. I’m Katie Hyson. Thanks for listening and have a great Tuesday.