About 700,000 adults between ages 26 and 49 will be eligible as of Jan. 1
California will welcome the new year by becoming the first state to offer health insurance for all undocumented immigrants.
Starting Jan. 1, all undocumented immigrants, regardless of age, will qualify for Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program for people with low incomes.
Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive comprehensive health insurance but were allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services under Medi-Cal as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.
My family doesn’t particularly support undocumented citizens. I’m on the fence about it. Yeah, they also pay taxes, work like normal people, and probably fled for better living conditions. I would like to hope they be more well supported given they were documented. Additionally, it isn’t fair to the people who waited many years and paid lots of money to get through the process legitimately. So yeah, I would like to see immigrants formally go through the process, but if they can’t wait and pay like others, then they probably have a good reason behind their choices.
This is going to sound insane, but I can’t get rid of Medi-cal. I did need it during covid because my insurance was tied to work and I was living with some elderly folk. I kept it when I moved in with my (then) boyfriend because I was in an area where I struggled to find a job. But then we got married, and I have been on his insurance for more than a year. I’ve called (even spoken to a few people), and I’ve written letters, but they just keep renewing it. Most recently I tried calling again but I gave up after waiting for an hour.
I couldn’t even use it if it wanted to because my name is different now, but the fact that I can’t communicate with them to let them know that I don’t need it is frustrating
And that made me wonder. I can’t get through to them to tell them that I don’t need it, right? How the hell does someone who DOES need it get through to get some help?
Didn’t California recently also pass a Public Option for healthcare, aiming for full coverage of Californians in general?
Great steps in the right direction.
I mean, this amounts to that, since by definition, an undocumented immigrant has no documentation. So anyone in California now has access (assuming they didn’t already, I don’t know) to the state insurance plan by claiming to be an undocumented immigrant when they go to the doctor.
Must be very recent because I was without insurance due to cost back when I lived in california just a few months ago. Moved to china for obvious reasons
I’m going to say it and I consider myself very liberal. But why are we providing insurance for them when we’re not even covering our own citizens?? How does this benefit the people who live in California and contribute to its GDP in a significant way? And I’m not saying undocumented immigrants don’t contribute to the gdP but they are undocumented. Everything happens under the table if they are. I would much rather California work on universal healthcare system for their state that includes immigrants. And I’m definitely not saying just because they’re undocumented doesn’t mean they don’t deserve this. But where is the benefit? These people can’t vote. They’re not paying taxes. Yet they’re reaping rewards of other people who do. Why doesn’t California put this money towards its massive homeless problem or it’s massive drug problem or it’s massive crime problem? I just simply do not understand why they would make something like this a priority over so many other problem
Yeah, I’m curious how it helps them politically too. Don’t get me wrong, it seems like a good thing to do, morally, but I can only see negatives politically. Could be an attempt to save money on ER, but I’m not sure if it’s the state that picks up that tab. Could be an attempt to keep their working population healthier, saving money on productivity. Could’ve been lobbied for by the healthcare industry to reduce their costs, or industries that employ undocumented workers to make them more productive. Could be to secure the votes of citizens with undocumented parents/relatives.
I’m not a Californian, but it seems like a lot of the Democratic politicians there are grifters, and only care about themselves, getting re-elected, and climbing the political ladder; especially Newsom. So, I suppose they think this benefits them in some way, but I’m not sure how.
Don’t worry, everyone just responded about how I was wrong that they don’t really pay taxes. And instead completely missed the point of what I was asking even though i made it clear lol. I think most people in government are self-serving now on either side. Well, the reality is actually they’re not self-serving theyre company serving. It seems like in today’s society government officials are beholden to large companies over the people.
I think it’s because it’s ultimately cheaper to cover them than to let them go to the emergency room and have to pay exorbitant prices on the back end. That’s a guess though.
We take in ~$12 billion in taxes a year from undocumented immigrants. From people who will likely never receive benefits like social security or Medicare.
The answer to your question is this; do the math. It turns out that it’s less expensive to cover everyone than it is to rely on a system wherein illegals can only access healthcare at the ER.
It really is as simple as that.
Having a large group of people living in your society without healthcare is just asking for huge (expensive) trouble. And it’s not like it’s more than the documented Californian’s have access to. In addition, Medi-Cal gives access to mental health and drug abuse counseling and help. California is really nice. There’s a reason so freaking many people have moved here (although I was pleasantly surprised to see more moved out last year! Hope that trend continues). The cost of housing has gone crazy (for a long while now), which studies have shown has a direct correlation with homelessness. Don’t let the propaganda get to you. California, like just about every state (and really just about every country I’ve ever been to), has mostly pleasant, friendly people and livable areas. And sure, some really, really shitty areas. Several obvious problems, and pretty straightforward ways to solve a lot of them, but politics and politicians just can’t handle big, long-impact decisions these days.
“Undocumented”? “health insurance”?
“Undocumented health insurance”!?
“as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.”
But not documented!?Are you quite sure you’re all right over there?
Think of undocumented as “The Gov’t does not have a officially documented reason for why they are currently in the country” and not “The Gov’t literally has no idea that this person exists.”
This headline is some absolute bullshit.
California already had health insurance for undocumented immigrants, as does Massachusetts. It’s just limited to emergency care and pregnancy care.
California is expanding their existing coverage to comprehensive health care including primary care, which is cheaper than letting medical conditions get so completely out of control that they require expensive and disabling emergency hospitalizations.
I mean, it’s also just nice to keep people healthy as well. Medical care should not cost a thing.
What a wonderful healthcare system the US has. Jeez.
Well, that’s all what the article says, it just doesn’t fit in the headline. It does identify that the eligibility criteria are removed by specifying all.
Still mad about the time my income was equal to rent plus like $500 so I didn’t qualify for medi-cal. With my health conditions, on the cheapest plan, $1000+ a month. Fucking california, garbage place.
