United States: The state, California, will become the first state to guarantee free health care for all low-income immigrants living in the nation illegally, a move that will provide coverage for an additional 764,000 individuals at an eventual cost of about USD 2.7 billion a year.
It is part of a USD 307.9 billion operating budget that Governor of California Gavin Newsom was expected to sign on Thursday. It pledges to make low-income adults eligible for the state’s Medicaid program by 2024, regardless of their immigration status. It is a long-sought victory for health care and immigration activists, who have been asking for the change for over a decade.
Moreover, Nationwide, federal as well as state governments join together to give free health care to low-income adults and young ones through Medicaid. But the federal government would not pay for individuals who are living in the nation illegally.
Some governments, including California, have paid a part of some low-income immigrants’ medical costs out of their own tax revenue.
Currently, the state wants to be the first to do that for all of the people.
The state is in the middle of the pack nationwide, with 92 percent of its population having some health insurance. But if this budget is completely implemented, that will change since individuals who are residing in the nation illegally makeup one of the greatest groups of residents without insurance.
Executive director of Health Access California, Anthon Wright, a statewide consumer health care advocacy group, said, “This will represent the biggest expansion of coverage in the nation since the start of the Affordable Care Act in 2014. In the state, we recognize (that) everybody benefits when everyone is covered.”
Additionally, several health care programmes have gradually been available to immigrants. The District of Columbia, five states (California, Illinois, New York, Oregon, and Washington), and 18 states currently offer prenatal care to persons regardless of their legal status. Washington also covers all children from low-income households. Medicaid has been extended to include older immigrant adults in California and Illinois.
Republicans and conservative organizations in California have opposed providing health insurance to immigrants who are residing in the country illegally. According to Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal, offering free healthcare will make California “a magnet for individuals who are not legally able to enter the nation,” he said.
Furthermore, Coupal stated, “I think the majority of us are sympathetic to the immigrant community, but we really wish we had better control on who enters this country as well as the state.”
