Will California Restore Medi-Cal for Undocumented Immigrants?

from Kristen HuangCalMatters

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Only two Democratic lawmakers voted against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal last year limiting health care for undocumented immigrants. Senator Maria Elena Durazo was one of them.

Now Durazo, a Democrat from Los Angeles, is proposing legislation that would reverse many of the health care cuts for immigrants and restore Medi-Cal eligibility to all income-eligible citizens, regardless of citizenship.

Senate Bill 1422 would ensure that all immigrant adults 19 and older can enroll in Medi-Cal. It would not change the limits on dental care benefits included in last year’s state budget, nor would it remove the $30 monthly premium required of the same population from July 2027. The state budget last year did not cut benefits for children without legal status.

“We are no healthier as a community than the people who have the least access to care. When we accept a two-tier system of health care, we are inviting problems,” Durazo said Monday.

Durazo argued that immigrants without legal status they bring in billions in taxes each year, and many are now unable to benefit from programs supported by those dollars. The state spends about $12 billion a year on immigrant health care.

Shrinking budget, growing struggle

It’s unclear whether Newsom would sign such a measure, but it seems unlikely. Fighting the deficit for the fourth year in a row — even as revenues grow — Newsom has already proposed cuts to other programs. Marisa Saldivar, a spokeswoman for the governor, said his office would not comment on Durazo’s legislation.

His January budget proposal made few changes to the state’s Medi-Cal program, which enrolls more than 14 million Californians, but highlighted continuing fiscal challenges. One big threat comes from President Donald Trump’s federal tax reform package, which imposed new caps on provider taxes that nearly every state uses to support their low-income health care programs. California’s tax on health insurers is particularly large, generating about $7 billion a year for the general fund, a figure that the state finance department estimates will drop to about $6 million next year.

Medi-Cal spending nearly doubled to $200 billion during Newsom’s two terms, adding to the state’s structural deficit, according to the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Analyst. That amount includes about $119 billion in federal dollars.

Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized Newsom’s handling of health care for undocumented immigrants. Republicans blame Newsom’s gradual expansion of Medi-Cal eligibility for immigrants the increasing costs of the program. Democrats are angry that he partially reversed course, and some also oppose his latest budget proposal, which they say would unnecessarily extend some federal Medicaid cuts.

Rep. Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, introduced a bill that would prohibits the state from imposing federal work requirements on enrollees whose health care is paid for solely by government funds, a group that includes immigrants without legal status. State officials estimate that the work requirements will cause about 2 million Californians to lose Medi-Cal, largely because of administrative hurdles.

The fight over health care costs has become one of the defining issues of this fall’s election.

The state’s largest health care union is pushing for a billionaire tax to raise revenue for health care, a measure that has drew opposition from Silicon Valley’s wealthy elite and divided state Democrats. Meanwhile, party leaders are also trying to unseat a number of vulnerable Republicans in Congress, including Rep. David Valadao, whose Central Valley district has the highest share of Medicaid recipients in the country.

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a cost they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.