January 5th 2024.
California made a positive start to 2024 by expanding healthcare program eligibility to all undocumented immigrants, according to Forbes. On the 1st of January, undocumented adults aged 26 to 49 became eligible for health insurance through the state's Medi-Cal program which is designed to insure coverage for low income residents. This expansion was approved by legislation in May 2023 and will enable an additional 700,000 undocumented Californians to access healthcare.
State Senator María Elena Durazo highlighted California’s dedication to health care as a fundamental right, as reported on her website. The California Health and Human Services Agency will provide $835.6 million between 2023 and 2024 and $2.6 billion annually to fund the program. Governor Gavin Newsom expressed his enthusiasm for the expansion, saying it would help keep families together. In Newsom's words, “In California, we believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status".
Data collected by the health policy research nonprofit, KFF, showed that close to 50% of undocumented immigrants are uninsured, in comparison to 8% of US-born citizens. This is mainly due to the fact that undocumented immigrants are more likely to work jobs that don't provide health benefits, while facing eligibility restrictions with federal programs. The expansion will provide these individuals with access to preventive services like flu shots, as well as age-appropriate health services such as cancer screenings and the shingles vaccine.
However, this move has been met with criticism. The California State Republican Caucus argued that Medi-Cal is already “strained” with close to 15 million people currently using it. They wrote that adding 764,000 more individuals to the system will exacerbate provider access problems. Former President Donald Trump even suggested during his 2020 State of the Union Address that California could “bankrupt our nation by providing free taxpayer-funded healthcare to millions of illegal aliens”.
Nevertheless, the Affordable Health Care Act has already given healthcare to 15 million Americans, and with the expansion of healthcare program eligibility in California, even more individuals can now access the healthcare they need.
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