Cash-strapped California will ring in the new year by offering free health care to all undocumented immigrants who qualify for the state’s government-run health insurance program.
The state, which faces a $68 billion deficit in the next fiscal year, has been steadily expanding access to its Medi-Cal health insurance program for low-income residents, allowing undocumented children to qualify for the taxpayer-funded program. in 2015, and later expanding under Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to cover undocumented adults ages 19 to 25 and ages 50 and older.
On January 1, California will become the first state to offer free health care to all who qualify, regardless of immigration status or age.
In May, Democrats in the California Legislature hailed the budget deal reached by Newsom and state lawmakers that led to the latest expansion of Medi-Cal, which will allow about 700,000 undocumented immigrants, ages 26 to 49, to gain full coverage. under the program.
All undocumented immigrants in California will be entitled to free health care in 2024. AFP via Getty Images
“This historic investment speaks to California’s commitment to health care as a human right,” state Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) said at the time.
“This is a game changer,” said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles). “It is one of the most important pieces of legislation that will pass this chamber because the ability to provide health care means the ability to live life without pain.”
However, some health care experts worry that expanding the program is unwise given state revenue shortfalls and unprecedented health care shortages.
“The expansion was a bad idea when the state coffers were full. Now that California is struggling to make ends meet, using taxpayer money to cover noncitizens is simply irresponsible,” said Sally Pipes, a health care policy expert and president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute, a California-based think tank. The charge.
California faces a $68 billion budget shortfall in the next fiscal year. AP
“Many Medi-Cal beneficiaries are already having difficulty finding doctors to care for them due to the low reimbursement rates these doctors receive from the government,” Pipes added. “If those on Medi-Cal can find a doctor, they will face very long waits for care.”
Simon Hankinson, an immigration and border security expert at the Heritage Foundation, said in a social media post that he hopes the federal government will eventually rescue the program.
“No surprise [California], despite the budget deficit, will give illegal immigrants subsidized health care,” Hankinson wrote in X. “The question is how and when they will get the federal taxpayer to bail them out. NY, IL and MA want to know.”
The California Senate Republican caucus has also criticized the health plan expansion.
“Medi-Cal is already under pressure serving 14.6 million Californians, more than a third of the state’s population. Adding 764,000 more people to the system will certainly exacerbate current provider access problems,” the group wrote in response to Newsom’s budget proposal last year.
Medi-Cal’s latest expansion will cost $2.6 billion per year.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn