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California will become the first state in the United States to provide state-subsidized health insurance to all undocumented immigrants. The bill is expected to take effect in 2024, which will also make California the first state to provide state-subsidized health insurance for all undocumented immigrants. States that offer health insurance .
This historic initiative is part of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2022-2023 state budget allocations, which includes funding to expand the Medi-Cal program. The program, which provides state-funded health insurance to eligible residents, will now cover an additional 700,000 undocumented residents ages 26-49, effective no later than January 1, 2024.
California Medicare already provides coverage to undocumented immigrants under the age of 26, over the age of 50, or who qualify for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The expansion is expected to lead to the largest decline in the proportion of the uninsured population in California in a decade. The UC Berkeley Labor Center estimates that in 2022 alone, there will be nearly 1.3 million uninsured people under the age of 65, and undocumented immigrants are the largest group of uninsured people.
State Senator María Elena Durazo issued a statement on her Twitter account, calling the expansion of California's health insurance program a budget victory and that California is "close to ending efforts to prevent undocumented immigrants from accessing affordable health care." Discriminatory policies one step closer,"
Durazo said: "This is a victory for the millions of undocumented California residents who contribute $3.7 billion in state and local tax revenue and more than $40 billion to our economy each year. $2.1 billion in spending power.”
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) estimates expanding insurance coverage will generate $2.1 billion in ongoing spending.
While California will be the first state to provide health insurance to nearly all undocumented immigrants, other states have made similar moves.
In 2020, Illinois will expand state-funded health insurance to undocumented, low-income people aged 65 and over. The state also introduced legislation to provide state-subsidized health insurance to undocumented immigrants ages 19 to 54 who live at or below 133% of the federal poverty level.
Oregon has proposed a similar plan to expand state-funded health insurance coverage to all adults who qualify for Medicare, regardless of their immigration status.
The Kaiser Family Foundation found that noncitizen immigrants are just as likely to work as citizens, but they are significantly more likely to be uninsured due to limited access to public and private insurance.
Source: American Chinese website
