California becomes the first US state to offer free health care to all undocumented immigrants

EFE.– California made history earlier this year by becoming the first state in the United States to offer free medical care for all illegal migrants with low incomes.

Starting this Monday, a new state law will allow undocumented aliens ages 26 to 49 whose income is below a certain threshold to have access to the full state Medi-Cal coverage that was already provided. There were other segments of this as well. population.

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By 2022 migrants Living without legal authorization of all ages accounted for 40% of the state’s approximately 3.2 million uninsured residents.

Medi-Cal This is the Californian version Medicaida program with federal and state resources that provides health insurance to low-income people.

Thanks to this expansion of voting rights, the “golden state” led by a Democratic governor Gavin Newsomis pushing forward with its ambitious plan to provide health insurance to all of its residents, some 39 million people.

This measure is expected to benefit more than 700 thousand people. migrants worth more than $2.6 billion per year.

This measure represents the greatest attempt to ensure medical insurance Californians in a decade.

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“This historic investment demonstrates the commitment California with health care as a human right,” Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, said in a statement.

California has already allowed a significant portion of undocumented residents to access Medi-Cal.

In 2015 minors without immigration status They were the first to have access to this program. Four years later, eligibility was extended to those under 26 years of age. And in May 2022, the state began covering people age 50 and older.

Assemblyman Miguel Santiago called the disparity in a statement a historical mistake that will be corrected with the expansion.

California Department of Public HealthDHCSin English) warned that Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS, in English) does not consider access to Medi-Cal health care services as a government charge, so this will not affect potential applications to regularize the immigration status of their beneficiaries..

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He added that information provided by migrants will only be used to determine whether they meet the criteria. State laws protect confidentiality your information.

Republican lawmakers

Opponents of the law warned that expanding health insurance to all undocumented immigrants would put pressure on California’s budget, which has an estimated $68 billion deficit in 2024.