We at the California Endowment have dedicated our organization to creating healthy communities within our state. In doing so, we have sought to broaden the discussion beyond health insurance and access to health care, which capture most media and public attention. True community health is created by a broad spectrum that includes affordability and access to wholesome food; parks and play areas for children, adults and seniors; and public safety so residents feel comfortable in leaving their homes to lead active lives, to name a few.

Tolerance, too, plays a key role in fostering healthy communities, and the current H1N1 outbreak exemplifies this.

As authorities seek to contain an epidemic, it is critical that those with symptoms feel able to come forward to school, health care and other public officials. Identifying, treating and sequestering sick individuals is key when a disease breaks out. But attacking entire groups of people is counterproductive.

Anti-immigration drum-beaters have seized on the H1N1 flu to advance their cause. CNN's Lou Dobbs reportedly casts the virus as the "Mexican flu." Others have dubbed it the "fajita flu," while talk-radio host Michael Savage has used the virus to call for a U.S.-Mexico border shut-down and blames undocumented immigrants for the illness' spread.

Some public officials are even advocating the exclusion of immigrants from hospitals. According to the Chicago Tribune, Houston City Council member Toni Lawrence asked: "Who are we infecting by even bringing people into our hospitals? Until we know more, we have to make some tough decisions. We need to look out for Houstonians first." Vitriol against immigrant and ethnic populations only isolates them from the public health system. And without medical attention, they will not be isolated in their daily lives; they will continue to work and live alongside us all.

As Savage pointed out to the Associated Press: "Viruses do not discriminate." As a former executive director of the national AIDS Action foundation, I witnessed firsthand how irrational prejudice can compromise effective public health. HIV/AIDS grew into a global medical crisis in part due to the shunning of the communities in which it first took hold. Because "viruses do not discriminate," HIV/AIDS soon exploded in every segment of society. Now, as then, the right thing to do, from a moral and medical standpoint, is to increase tolerance, not increase xenophobia.

As we move forward in tackling the H1N1 epidemic and in building truly healthy communities, we must not fall prey to false arguments about immigrants' impact on our health care system. The issue is with the system, not those who are using it. Immigrant populations not only are indoctrinated with messages that discourage them from seeking health care, but their access to care is the most limited.

A recent study funded by the California Endowment found that fully three-quarters of undocumented Latino immigrants do not have health coverage. Half of them reported that they either do not seek treatment for illnesses or resort to an emergency room.

This is a recipe for an epidemiological nightmare – and for a continued fiscal crisis.

Expanding – not restricting – care for all residents of our state is the right move for our health care system, both in terms of easing illness and pain among individuals, and reducing the financial strain on us all.

Prevention, early intervention and access to regular checkups and information are all proven to save money. It is much cheaper to keep people healthy in the first place than to treat them when they are ill. This is not a sophisticated medical theory but rather common sense.

Epidemics have long been seized upon by people to foment racial and ethnic discord. Jews were blamed for the medieval black plague. The Italians and Spanish blamed each other during the 1918 global flu pandemic.

If those now demonizing Latinos in connection with H1N1 were truly concerned about stopping the virus, they'd use their platforms to advocate hand-washing and tolerance, not hate.

Daniel Zingale is senior vice president, policy, for the California Endowment, the state's largest health care foundation. Zingale was recently chief of staff to first lady Maria Shriver and senior adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was cabinet secretary and deputy chief of staff to Gov. Gray Davis, and was the founding director of the state Department of Managed Care.