Newsom gives new handout to illegal immigrants. Taxpayers could be on the hook

Much of America’s future is made in California, tested, and – in recent years, almost always – failed.

California’s Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom just announced that California will begin providing health insurance to an additional 764,000 undocumented immigrants, in addition to the 1.1 million people already enrolled in the state’s version of Medicaid. be. More than a third of California’s dwindling population of 39 million are enrolled in the Medi-Cal program.

California has been gradually adding undocumented immigrants to its Medi-Cal program since 2015. This was the year that children of illegal immigrants were also eligible. Four years later, adults 50 and older were added.

California Legislature is dominated by AI regulations and tight state budget

The latest round of expansion adds people ages 26 to 49 and costs California taxpayers an estimated $3.1 billion annually. That means the state general fund health insurance subsidy for people in this age group who are living in California illegally is about $4,058 a year.

The federal government only pays for Medicaid for people who are legally in the United States.

Overall, Medi-Cal consumes the largest portion of California’s $454.7 billion budget, with the federal government contributing about $90 billion to health care and the state spending about $40 billion from its general fund.

California Democratic leaders are seeking to use the Medi-Cal program as a way to phase the transition to universal health coverage. They argue that expanding Medi-Cal coverage is cheaper because federal law requires all hospitals to provide emergency medical services to anyone, regardless of immigration status or ability to pay. It is claimed to be more efficient.

For example, an audit completed in Texas in 2021 found that hospitals in the Lone Star State spent up to $717 million to provide uncompensated hospital services to 1.6 million undocumented immigrants. This would amount to $448 per person per year for her, and would ultimately pass on to other hospital users.

But Medi-Cal coverage does not equal care. “It’s mind-boggling. California sees itself as the white knight of health care justice,” said Tanner Arif, director of health care rights policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. “Health care access for low-income people living in rural counties has decreased. From 2016 to 2019, California’s rural counties experienced a significant decline in the number of physicians who accept Medicaid.”

Further complicating matters, Arif pointed out, “In 2023, the California Hospital Association claims that one in five hospitals will be on the brink of closure due to losses from Medical.” “Medicaid is putting health care providers out of business and there’s no point in giving people the money to pay for it.” If you don’t have a place to use it, use your taxpayer-funded Medicaid card. ”

But California faces a massive $68 billion budget deficit, meaning Newsom and the Democratic supermajorities in each chamber will need to find a way to cut state spending by about 22%. But that’s slightly less than California spends on K-12 education.

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Sen. Roger Niello, R-Calif., vice chairman of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, told me, “I join my Republican colleagues in calling on Governor Newsom and legislative leadership to address the $68 billion budget deficit.” We have called for early measures to be taken.” Regardless of his position on this spending as one of the necessary steps in this direction, it makes no sense to add this to this terrible shortfall. ”

The latest round of expansion adds people ages 26 to 49 and costs California taxpayers an estimated $3.1 billion annually. That means the state general fund health insurance subsidy for people in this age group who are living in California illegally is about $4,058 a year.

But Newsom may not be completely indifferent to spending state tax dollars on health care for undocumented immigrants. The Biden administration likely believes it has the power to unilaterally declare illegal immigrants to be in the country legally.

Last April, the Biden administration declared that undocumented immigrants covered by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order meet the definition of “lawful presence,” making them eligible for Medicaid benefits. announced his intention to do so. The measure could save California about $1.1 billion in federal aid offsets.

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Doing the same for millions of other illegal immigrants could generate an additional $11 billion in federal Medicaid aid for California, a welcome boost from the federal government for California’s wasteful spending. It will be a relief. This is based on the theory that the documents given to them by Border Patrol after they entered the United States illegally constitute a type of “lawful presence” while they await an initial hearing by an immigration judge. .

Of course, this welcoming reception by taxpayers toward illegal immigrants can influence behavior. Nina Ouchalenko Schaefer of the Heritage Foundation warns that California’s generosity could encourage immigrants to move there. That would at least partially offset California’s unprecedented population exodus, as the state has now lost residents for three consecutive years.

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