California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has announced an expansion of health care coverage for illegal immigrants, adding an estimated 764,000 more individuals to the state’s Medi-Cal program, with an annual cost of $3.1 billion to California taxpayers.
This move is part of a larger effort by California’s Democratic leadership to achieve universal health insurance coverage.
However, there are concerns about the impact on healthcare access and the strain on the state’s budget, which is facing a $68 billion deficit. (Trending: Epstein’s Brother Finally Breaks His Silence)
Tanner Aliff, policy director for the Right on Healthcare, said, “It’s mind-numbing. California thinks itself a white knight for healthcare justice.”
“Yet the state has failed to realize its Medicaid for All campaign has ironically reduced healthcare access for low-income folks living in rural counties. Between 2016 – 2019, California’s rural counties saw a drastic drop in the number of physicians accepting Medicaid,” they continued.
“In 2023 the California Hospital Association claimed 1 in 5 hospitals are the brink of closure due to losses from Medi-Cal. Medicaid is putting providers out of business, and there is no point in giving people taxpayer-funded Medicaid cards if there is nowhere to use them,” explained Aliff.
Sen. Roger Niello, said, “Along with my Republican colleagues, I have called on Governor Newsom and legislative leadership to take early action on the $68 billion budget deficit we face. As one necessary step in this direction, regardless of one’s position on this expenditure, it makes no sense to add this to that daunting shortfall.”
Doing something similar with millions of other illegal immigrants could generate an additional $11 billion in federal Medicaid assistance for California, providing a welcome federal bailout for California’s profligate spending. This is based on the theory that the paperwork handed out to them by the Border Patrol after they illegally entered the U.S. constitutes a form of “lawful presence” while they await their first hearing before an immigration judge.
Of course, this welcome embrace by the taxpayers of illegal immigrants may influence behavior. The Heritage Foundation’s Nina Owcharenko Schaefer warns that California’s generosity may cause migrants to move to California. If so, it will at least partially offset California’s unprecedented population drain, with the state now having lost residents three years in a row.
Additionally, the Biden administration’s actions may potentially provide federal assistance to offset the costs.
This could influence migration patterns and partially offset the state’s population decline.
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