California Governor Gavin Newsom is ringing in the new year by overseeing a plan to dramatically expand his state’s Medicaid system, providing healthcare coverage to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants. The update to the ambitious Medi-Cal program, which took effect January 1, 700,000 illegal California residents between 26 and 49 will receive free health insurance—an expansion anticipated to cost the state up to $3.1 billion per year.
When the program was first proposed two years ago, Governor Newsom touted it as “a transformative step towards strengthening the healthcare system for all Californians.” California has provided free insurance to illegal immigrants under the age of 26 since 2019, but those 26 and older were only allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services. The latest expansion, which received official approval in May, moves California one step closer to its goal of providing free universal healthcare for its residents.
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State officials are unsure how many people will register for the expanded program in the coming weeks, but it is believed that more than 700,000 people are now eligible. That number is larger than the total number of Medicaid enrollees in several other states.
“In California, we believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status,” Newsom’s office told ABC News. “Through this expansion, we’re making sure families and communities across California are healthier, stronger, and able to get the care they need when they need it.”
However, many in California’s government do not share Newsom’s enthusiasm for the program. The expansion of Medi-Cal coincides with an unprecedented migrant surge at the nation’s southern border and a $68 billion deficit in California.
(RELATED: Biden Administration Threatens to Sue Texas to Keep Illegal Immigration Legal)
State officials estimate that expanding Medi-Cal will cost $1.2 billion in the first six months, followed by $3.1 billion annually thereafter. Spending on the program already totals $37 billion, making it the second-largest item on the California budget.
Immigration activists in the state argue that the expansion will actually save money by closing gaps in healthcare access. According to their assessment, illegal immigrants will often avoid seeking treatment without coverage, making it more expensive to treat them once their condition worsens.
But in the eyes of many of the state’s conservative lawmakers, the expansion will only make things worse for California’s legal residents.
“Medi-Cal is already strained by serving 14.6 million Californians – more than a third of the state’s population,” the California Senate Republican Caucus wrote in a budget analysis last year. “Adding 764,000 more individuals to the system will certainly exacerbate current provider access problems.”
In the last four years, California has seen a steep population decline amid rising urban crime, high cost of living, and harsh COVID lockdowns. Between January 2020 and January 2022, more than 700,000 people fled to other states—but fortunately for California, that number has apparently been offset by the new influx of illegal immigrants.
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