Cash-strapped California will ring in the new year by offering free health care to all undocumented immigrants who qualify for a state-run health insurance program.
The state, which faces a $68 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year, has continued to expand access to its Medi-Cal health insurance program for low-income residents, allowing undocumented children to qualify for the taxpayer-funded program in 2015, then expanded it under Democrat Gavin Newsom to protect undocumented adults between the ages of 19-25 and those over the age of 50.
On January 1, California will become the first state to offer free health care to all eligible individuals — regardless of immigration status or age.
In May, Democrats in the California Legislature celebrated a budget deal reached by Newsom and state lawmakers that led to the latest Medi-Cal expansion, which will see about 700,000 undocumented immigrants, ages 26-49, gain coverage full under the program.
All undocumented immigrants in California will be eligible for free health care by 2024. AFP via Getty Images
“This historic investment reflects California’s commitment to health care as a basic human right,” said Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) at the time.
“This is a game changer,” said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles). ill.”
However, some health care experts worry that expanding the program would be unwise given the state’s unprecedented revenue shortfall and lack of health care.
“The expansion is a bad idea when the state government’s coffers are flowing. Now that California is struggling to make ends meet, using taxpayer money to cover non-citizens is irresponsible,” Sally Pipes, a health care policy expert and president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, a California-based think tank, told the Post.
California faces a $68 billion budget deficit next fiscal year. AP
“Many on Medi-Cal already have difficulty finding doctors to treat them because of the low reimbursement rates these doctors receive from the government,” Pipes added. “If those on Medi-Cal can find a doctor, they’re waiting a long time for treatment.”
Simon Hankinson, a border security and immigration expert with the Heritage Foundation, said in a social media post that he hopes the federal government will eventually save the program.
“No surprise [California], despite the budget deficit, will give undocumented immigrants subsidized health care,” Hankinson wrote at X. “The question is how and when they will get federal taxpayers to bail them out. NY, IL, and MA are curious.”
The California Senate Republican caucus has also criticized the expansion of the health plan.
“Medi-Cal is already strained by serving 14.6 million Californians – more than a third of the state’s population. Adding 764,000 more individuals to the system would certainly exacerbate current provider access problems,” the caucus wrote in response to Newsom’s budget proposal last year.
The latest Medi-Cal expansion would cost $2.6 billion a year.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
