California's Newsom wants health coverage for all immigrants
ABC News
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to make California the first state to cover everyone under its Medicaid plan regardless of their immigration status
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California would be the first state to provide health coverage to all immigrants in the country illegally under the budget Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed Monday.
It's part of his effort to address what he termed five of the most populous state's biggest challenges in a $286.4 billion budget that builds on a surplus projected by the Legislative Analyst to be at least $31 billion. Newsom’s budget proposal uses a much bigger surplus estimate because his administration uses a different definition of what counts as a surplus.
What his administration termed “existential threats” include the surging coronavirus pandemic; wildfires and drought worsened by global warming; homelessness; income inequality including the lack of health insurance for some immigrants; and public safety, including combatting a recent flurry of coordinated smash-and-grab robberies.
The most populous state has made great strides in reducing its uninsured population in recent years, but the largest single group left behind under the state's Medicaid program are low-income residents in the country illegally.
