California to Offer Healthcare to All Undocumented Immigrants
Gov. Gavin Newson will extend healthcare to all undocumented immigrants in California through Medi-Cal.
Currently, two-thirds of the undocumented immigrant population in California who are younger than 65 lack health insurance, according to a recent analysis from the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley.
Medi-Cal, the state’s health program for low-income Californians, seemed unlikely to include undocumented immigrants until the pandemic hit, giving California a budget surplus to invest in new programs.
The program is already offered to undocumented immigrants below the age of 26 and will be offered to those 50 years of age and older in the spring and to every other undocumented immigrant in California in the next coming months.
Newson says this plan, along with the Affordable Care Act, will be a step toward universal healthcare.