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California lawmakers moves on health care for illegal immigrants

June 10, 2019

California’s Democratic-controlled Legislature has reached an agreement on extending government-funded health care coverage to young adult illegal immigrants at a cost of about $100 million a year, a plan Gov. Gavin Newsom intends to sign into law. [CBS News]

Democratic lawmakers on Sunday agreed on a proposed state budget that will allow adults between the ages of 19 and 25 who are living in the United States illegally to become eligible for California’s Medicaid program. In order to participate in the program, it will also be necessary for the young adults to have an income low enough to qualify for Medicaid.

The program will cost an estimated $98 million and cover an additional 90,000 people. It will be funded, at least in part, by the state levying a tax on Californians who do not have health insurance, a policy modeled after the scrapped Obamacare penalty at the federal level.

Prior to Sunday’s deal, the state Senate proposed legislation that would cover illegal immigrant adults ages 19 to 25 and 65 and older. An Assembly bill called for covering all illegal immigrants above the age of 19.

Newsom objected to the Assembly plan because of its $3.4 billion price tag. Ultimately, lawmakers agreed to Newsom’s $98 million proposal.

Following the compromise, California is set to become the first state in the country to offer government-funded health care to illegal immigrants.

“California believes that health is a fundamental right,” said state Sen. Holly Mitchell, a Los Angeles Democrat, who led the budget negations.

Republicans on the legislative committee negotiating the budget voted against the plan, arguing it is not fair to give health benefits to illegal immigrants while taxing people living in the state legally for not purchasing health insurance.

The Legislature must still formally approve California’s proposed $213 million budgets. Lawmakers have until midnight on Saturday to do so or they forfeit pay.

In addition to providing health care to illegal immigrants, the proposed budget would also make California the first state to assist families earning as much as six times the federal poverty level with paying their monthly health insurance premiums. Families of four earning $150,000 a year would be eligible for about $100 a month in state government assistance under the proposed budget.

Newsom campaigned on a platform of universal health care. California has 3 million residents who do not have health insurance, about 1.8 million of whom are illegal immigrants.


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Must be alot of Chumash Natives here looking for restitution. It’s not like America was founded by immigrants who were grandfathered into a system? My family came from Poland to Cambria 170 years ago, not sure who or how they bought or stole land from for our homestead…..French, Spanish or Portuguese?


-12

Certain democrats and illegal Immigrants believe that health is a fundamental right,”. Fixed it for you Holly.


1

Recall Newsom :

New poll results released show that even in liberal California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and his early policies are out of step with a large swath of California’s voters.

Just 100 Days in Office, Gov. Gavin Newsom Out-of-Step with California Voters on Death Penalty, Water Tax, Gas Tax Threat, and High Speed Rail.


https://recallnewsom.org/


https://www.change.org/p/joshua-lindsay-recall-california-governor-davin-newsom


20

Good luck with this, Nuclearlogic, but, until Republicans come to their senses and reject the corruption and idiocy of Trump, California will remain solidly blue for many years to come. You might want to to move to Mississippi or Alabama if you need to be accepted politically.


-27

Next: Voting is a human right!


16

We need ranked choice voting. Puts the choice of the moderate majority into power, not those popular within their party. We would not get such extreme politicians with these goofy ideas.


11

Totally agree, if there could be safe means to do this Via online. Voices would be represented better, whatever the issue was.


1

I’m neither all for the “left,” or “right” ….too many people wear it like a badge of honor while spouting nonsense. First healthcare (including abortions) is not a “constitutional right”. As a wealthy country we should do what we can, however it’s naive to honestly think we can do everything for everybody-that’s politician talk for votes. While the system we have needs repair… it CANNOT be government run/single payer. The VA for example, while it employs many dedicated healthcare professionals, is a giant government mess. Systemically stuck in a quagmire of government redtape. Way too many administrators, pinheads, employees, and even sadly, corruption. Unfortunately it’s turned into what’s best for the VAs system than for the patient.

As a state, California is the same… It always sounds good to preach the promise without a clue how to best make it work…except tax the 1 percenters. Maybe they should have saved all the money wasted on that corrupt “high speed rail” and earnestly tried to organize the border then help the people. (it’s probably very close to the amount that Newsom proposed). That amazing corrupt disaster should put chills in everyone when state politicians open their mouths about new things.

Things can be done…I believe that. But unfortunately instead of holding politicians (our employees remember?) feet to the fire and demanding accountability, we fight amongst ourselves over everything and anything political. We’ve been molded…Think Hannity vs Maddow. It’s noise and WE are responsible. Not Clinton, Bush, Obama, or Trump. Folks, no one in Sacramento wants to give up their grip on power (votes). It’s a nice, well compensated life with a lot of perks and it gets better the higher ya go. We can break the cycle but not until we stop listening to and believing everything we hear becoming parrots…. Read, investigate, be suspicious…then think. I heard that it’s not for ALL illegals just about 91,000. What? And some will be above the minimum income requirements. Wait, What? Does that make sense? Time to do some checking.


12

The fallacy in your argument—”As a wealthy country we should do what we can, however it’s naive to honestly think we can do everything for everybody”—does not hold up well when it comes to health care. EVERY other first world country does exactly that—it takes care of “everybody”, no matter their citizenship status.


Former SF Bay radio host Gene Burns was a devout libertarian for many years, even ran as a VP candidate on that ticket. In the early 2000’s he came down quite ill on a vacation in Tahiti. He was admitted to a hospital—Tahiti is under French jurisdiction—and spent several weeks under their care. He eventually recovered and soon discovered that his hospital bill was $0. He seemed to have quite the epiphany after that and was a major supporter of Obamacare in its earliest days.


Bottom line, health care is a human right. To deny it is against everything America stands for.


-17

America stands for ‘ life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness. Freedom. Not massive government programs. Medicine needs to run by practicing nurses, doctors, therapists and associated professionals. I’m glad this guy was treated to such a nice gift. I’m sure they wouldn’t let him stay permanently for all the opportunity and other freebies.

We have 350 million people. Allowing 535 politicians, at least half who are feathering their own nest, decide our healthcare is absolute madness. Nothing is for free-someone somewhere has to pay for it. However it settles we cannot continue to squash and penalize hard working people…and continually reduce their healthcare options. We have been duped into believing mediocrity and redtape is a gallant step forward in medical care. Obamacare is a muddled, over regulated confusing mess. If that’s your idea of of accessible medical care for all….


5

You say Burns was in Tahiti on vacation so he was there contributing to their economy. He didn’t sneak in to Tahiti so he could get freebies like food stamps, subsidized housing and education etc.. Illegal aliens aren’t in California for a vacation.


5

When my wife had her first kid it cost us $20. Monthly premiums were about $650. That was a C section and covered by what was considered a so,so HMO plan. Now thanks to the unaffordable health care act its $1300 a month for basic and there is thousands in copay’s, deductibles and BS. Are we blessed to have health coverage, you bet!! Why should American tax payers foot the bill for those who enter this country ILLEGALLY? People are not entitled to anything in this country as a “human right” its called working for what you have. The ignorance of the Ca resident is pitiful. Every Hispanics I’ve worked with who busted their butts to get ahead despise this free hand out, its a slap in the face. This is just like the soon to be free college tuition pay off program. What about those who worked every odd job to pay their way and went to school to get ahead? Now you do the same to them by handing out tuition for free for what?? One can only believe its for more dem votes.


8

If healthcare is a human right what happens when there isn’t a doctor around when someone needs to exercise their right to healthcare? Who is to blame for infringing on the sick person’s rights in this situation? Shall we bring charges against people who dropped out of medical school?


If healthcare is a right, what happens if no one wants to be a physician? Who gets punished or fined from depriving a sick person their rights? Shall we bring charges against people who choose to be structural engineers instead of physicians?


What if not enough people want to be physicians, meaning that there aren’t enough doctors to meet everyone’s right to healthcare? Is the solution to force people to become physicians?


Rights were never understood as something that a government bestows on us. Rights were always seen as something each and every person on the face of the earth possesses because we are all equal. We all have the right to life, liberty and property, according to the thinking that established America’s old Constitution. In the old United States….before they all got globbed together in “merica” the government’s job was to protect our rights, not to grant them.


Rights are something we possess regardless of government. If we allow for the completely wrong notion that rights can be granted by legislation, and those “rights” require service from a third party, like healthcare, then the third party is essentially slave labor! Because if they refuse to render care, are not present to render care, or there is simply not enough doctors to be everywhere, all the time, they violate the people’s rights.


If you think healthcare is a human right, then doctors must be conscripted/enslaved in order to ensure that people can exercise their rights.


This is a very, very bad idea. There is no way making healthcare a “right” will improve anything at all.


31

Well, people are trying to make medicine a social services, but the human life has a dollar value. It’s roughly 3 million per US citizen I think. You make a valid point too. Physicians generally have to come from a wealthier upbrining, or debt for 30 years. 12 years plus of schooling for that job, we are in need of them.


5

The first two arguments are totally ridiculous—”what happens when there isn’t a doctor around”—and “If healthcare is a right, what happens if no one wants to be a physician?” A country with correct priorities would certainly have enough doctors.


This is not a problem in any other part of the first world—England, France, Canada, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc. have enough doctors to deal with ALL of their citizens.


Thanks for playing DocT, but your arguments are absurd at best.


-16

It’s not the amount of doctors but the quality of the men and women who choose a very demanding difficult profession. Many great doctors are in fact leaving the profession because of increasing frustrating suffocating government encroachment. Be careful what you wish for…


5

Health Care is a human right. Especially if you pay takes. I paid taxes in Canada, got a health card. Their system works. But not if you abuse your body. You can wait. I couldn’t become a resident until I proved that Canada needed my skill set. What is a skill set?


-12

These schemes have nothing to do with health care. They are about health insurance. 2 different things. We can debate whether health care is a right, but I’m fairly certain health insurance isn’t a basic human right.


14

Skill set is what YOU bring to the table professionally (and financially). Many countries have professional and financial requirements before they let you stay. You don’t just walk in and feel the benefits.


17

Treasonous. Newsom is such a tool.


36

He wouldn’t know


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