California's Medi-Cal in effect January 1, 2024

[Lance]

Care for all Californians as described below, about $3.1 billion per year, to be paid for by taxpayers. This applies to ALL illegal migrants who have contributed zero but the tab will be picked up by taxpayers. How is this possible even if you are in total agreement with Newsom's new law? Can taxpayers possibly pay for this, with costs escalating as they are almost day-by-day. The point is: can we really take care of the whole world? Personally, I'm in the middle on this not knowing what to expect.

California becomes first state to offer health insurance to ALL illegal migrants: Taxpayers will be forced to fork out $3.1BN PER YEAR in medical care for an extra 700,000 people. Story by Ruth Bashinsky For Dailymail.Com

Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program that goes into effect on January 1
The expansion will eventually cost the state about $3.1 billion per year, the Associated Press reported. California Gov. Gavin Newsom office told ABC News, in part, 'everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status'
California has become the first state to offer universal health insurance to all illegal migrants regardless of whether they have any documentation.

On January 1, taxpayers will now be forced to fork out thousands for medical care for an additional 700,000 undocumented immigrants - between 26 and 49 - eligible for full coverage under Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program.
It comes as more than a staggering 1.5 million are pouring across the southern border every year many of them seeking shelter in California's Democrat-run 'sanctuary cities.'

Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive health insurance under Medi-Cal unless there was an emergency or pregnancy related issue.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers agreed in 2022 to provide health care access to all low-income adults regardless of their immigration status through the state's Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal.

The expansion will eventually cost the state about $3.1 billion per year, the Associated Press reported.

The move has been criticized by the California Senate Republican Caucus, who stated that the state's Medicaid program 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 will certainly exacerbate current provider access problems.'

But, Newsom's office told ABC News, in part, that 'in California, we believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status.'


Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed hundreds of new laws that went into effect on January 1, including a law granting health care services to all undocumented immigrants in the state of California.


California is home to more than two million undocumented immigrants
In 2023, more than 500,000 people crossed the border illegally into California, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and preliminary gotaway data exclusively obtained by The Center Square. The Public Policy Institute of California defines 'undocumented -also known as illegal or unauthorized -immigrants, a population that is not directly identified in any representative national or state surveys.

Newsom said, '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.'

Earlier this year, State Senator Maria Elena Durazo said opening up Medi-Cal to all undocumented Californians has been a goal for health and immigration advocates for years and applauded the news.

She said, 'this historic investment speaks to California's commitment to health care as a human right.'

Before Newsom became governor, then governor Jerry Brown signed a bill in 2015, that only allowed undocumented children to join Medi-Cal in 2015, as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.

In 2019, Newsom signed a law granting eligibility to those younger than 26, and in May, California started covering people aged 50 and over.

The state senator's office explained that Californians are eligible for Medi-Cal coverage based on their income. This year's income cap for a family of four is $36,156.

Medi-Cal is also available to to people with certain medical conditions, and those who are pregnant, blind, disabled, under age 21, living in a nursing home or are a recently settled refuge.

Sarah Dar, director of Health and Public Benefits Policy at the California Immigrant Policy Center said the 'budget investment reflects California's values of inclusion and fairness and should be a model for the rest of the nation.'

'All Californians, regardless of their age or where they were born, should have access to basic necessities like food and fair, steady wages,' Dar said.

Undocumented residents remain the largest group of uninsured in California, according to a recent analysis from the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley.

California still has the largest population of undocumented immigrants in America, according to a study by the Pew Research Center, Axios San Francisco reported.

It's latest data from 2021, placed the undocumented population at 10.5 million and of that number 1.85 million, about five percent of its total population, was in California.

In 2023, more than 500,000 people crossed the border illegally into California, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection data and preliminary gotaway data exclusively obtained by The Center Square.

This number is up from nearly 302,000 in fiscal 2022, as per the news outlet.

[Belle]

I feel your pain and anger. You need to thank the Left side of politics for this hideous practice, along with their abject contempt for sovereignty and border controls. The people who enable this essentially don't like your country but I'm betting you do, Lance!! In our family this is regarded as 'generosity at somebody else's expense'.

In Australia any government which allowed this would be given the heave-ho.

Newsom hasn't got a ghost of a chance of ever being President; he runs a disorderly and chaotic state - which American citizens are leaving in droves. I learn all about it from Dave Rubin, who left there along with friends about 3 or 4 years ago and they were part of a big migration out of there. Meanwhile, Governor Abbott is bussing illegals further north to be the problem of those who want open borders. That's fair, but just wait till the hypocrites start screaming about it!!

Here's a sobering story about illegal migrants who came to Australia by boat from an Asian country (not Vietnam). My sister's son's family of in-laws; came by boat in the 1970s and went on TV to get sympathy when they couldn't qualify for a Visa/Citizenship. Opened a Chinese restaurant - CASH ONLY. No taxation paid from that business; money hidden under the floorboards; $2million house and they're in receipt of the full Aged Pension!! Currently they are cruising the European world on a very big luxury ship.

Thank you, Australia, for your generosity!!

[maestrob]

The problem is not so simple here.

By law, hospitals must treat whoever walks in, regardless of whether they have insurance or not. These emergency room costs are covered by our tax money anyway, reimbursed by the federal government through a complicated process of hospitals sending out bills that harass patients and mostly go unpaid. Once those bills are deemed uncollectible, Washington steps in and pays them at a negotiated rate.

So the money flows anyway, and putting people on Medicaid actually SAVES healthcare dollars because Medicaid, while providing faster reimbursement, still pays less than the old system.

Giving people, illegal or not, access to standard healthcare costs much less in the long run as chronic conditions that can be treated properly with medication and regular doctor's visits cost far less than emergencies over time.

Another sensible solution to a problem that we in NYC have implemented quite a few years ago.

[jserraglio]

In Australia any government which allowed this would be given the heave-ho.

Aye, matey, u no how the Lib Partie sloes ‘n’ hoes gave there PM SloMo the ole heave-ho.

[Ricordanza]

The problem is not so simple here.

By law, hospitals must treat whoever walks in, regardless of whether they have insurance or not. These emergency room costs are covered by our tax money anyway, reimbursed by the federal government through a complicated process of hospitals sending out bills that harass patients and mostly go unpaid. Once those bills are deemed uncollectible, Washington steps in and pays them at a negotiated rate.

So the money flows anyway, and putting people on Medicaid actually SAVES healthcare dollars because Medicaid, while providing faster reimbursement, still pays less than the old system.

Giving people, illegal or not, access to standard healthcare costs much less in the long run as chronic conditions that can be treated properly with medication and regular doctor's visits cost far less than emergencies over time.

Another sensible solution to a problem that we in NYC have implemented quite a few years ago.

Thanks, Brian, for adding some FACTS to this discussion. What a novel concept!

[Rach3]

The problem is not so simple here.

By law, hospitals must treat whoever walks in, regardless of whether they have insurance or not. These emergency room costs are covered by our tax money anyway, reimbursed by the federal government through a complicated process of hospitals sending out bills that harass patients and mostly go unpaid. Once those bills are deemed uncollectible, Washington steps in and pays them at a negotiated rate.

So the money flows anyway, and putting people on Medicaid actually SAVES healthcare dollars because Medicaid, while providing faster reimbursement, still pays less than the old system.

Giving people, illegal or not, access to standard healthcare costs much less in the long run as chronic conditions that can be treated properly with medication and regular doctor's visits cost far less than emergencies over time.

Another sensible solution to a problem that we in NYC have implemented quite a few years ago.

Don Trump, and his GOP Mob, have promised of course to repeal the Affordable Care Act which many former Medicaid recipients now use since the pandemic expansion of Medicaid is over and some States never adopted the expansion initially. And other costs:

https://www.axios.com/2024/02/06/medica ... stream=top