NEWSOM offers to freeze Medi-Cal recording for immigrants

From ChristenCalmness

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A year after granting access to Medi-Cal to low-income immigrants without law, Governor Gavin Newsom proposes to freeze the freezing of new recipients and charge bonuses underway, which is expected to save the state more than $ 5 billion.

According to Newsom’s proposal, announced today, the Medi-Cal-State Health Insurance Program for low-income people and those with disabilities-in the beginning of 2026, will no longer accept new participants in 19 and more years who have no constant legal status.

1.6 million immigrants who are already registering will not lose their Medi-Cal coverage and children can still enroll. All undocumented Californians will still be covered for emergency medical care and pregnancy care-so called the “limited range” coverage, which is paid with federal dollars. But those who do not enroll before January 2026 will be detected for other medical expenses, such as prescription medicines and visits to a doctor.

Before the changes come into force, California’s legislation will have to approve them in the state budget. So far, democratic legislators have largely been slowing down, making major cuts of Medi-Cal coverage for immigrants.

State Senator Scott Wiener, Democrat from San Francisco and Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said at lunch last month that despite fiscal uncertainty, Democrats in the Senate want to provide healthcare coverage for immigrants in California.

“These are people who work, pay taxes. They must have access to health care,” Vinner said.

NEWSOM also suggested that adults with “unsatisfactory immigration status” have to pay $ 100 a month, starting in 2027, these are people whose immigration status makes them unacceptable to federal Medicaid, including those with legal status. The $ 100 premium is less than the average subsidized premium paid under California, according to the governor’s office.

Together, these moves will save the state $ 5.4 billion by 2028-29, the Newsom office said, helping to deal with the country’s estimated deficit of $ 16 billion.

The Newsom Office said the deficit requires “difficult solutions”, but that the governor remains committed to protecting immigrants.

“These changes are intended to preserve this commitment, to protect the coverage of millions of Californians, and to preserve the power of our system and health system,” according to the actual leaf of the governor.

The solution is a bruising strike for Newsom, which is running as a governor about the promise of universal healthcare. California was the second state after Oregon to offer health insurance to all immigrants No legal status.

“These are people who work, pay taxes. They must have access to healthcare.”

State Senator Scott Wiener

The Newsom Office has accused the wide-ranging rates imposed by the Trump administration for weakening the expected revenue of the state, but the Medi-Cal program is already experiencing the cost of increasing recording and increasing medical prescription drugs.

In March the administration reported about a A shortage of $ 6.2 billion in its Medi-Cal budgetAnd they had to acquire additional funds to pay suppliers by the end of June.

The Ministry of Health, which runs Medi-Cal, cited a number of reasons to exceed its budget, including that it has spent about $ 2.7 billion more than expected for people without legal status.

The state spends about $ 8.5 billion a year from the General Immigrant Cover Fund that is in the country without legal permission, according to the Newsom administration assessments.

The request for additional dollars was criticized by the Republicans in the legislature, who say that the governor and the Democrats had excessively promised what the state could afford.

Newsom’s call to restrict recording is coming as Congress offers major discounts on the Medicaid Federal Program. (Medi-Cal is the name of California for Medicaid.)

One proposal aims to penalize countries that cover unauthorized immigrants. This punishment will come in the form of reduced federal funding for the population of the Act on affordable care-to a large extent capable of adults without children. If accepted, this punishment can cost California about $ 3.2 billion a year in federal funding, according to the Center for Budget and Political Priorities.

CalMatters reporter Yue Stella Yu contributed to this story.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.