New State Funds Boosts Well being Take care of Older Immigrants – CBS San Francisco
SACRAMENTO (AP) – California will soon pay healthcare bills for low-income people aged 50 and over living in the country illegally, part of an expansion by Medicaid aimed at bringing the nation’s most populous state to the goal of Democrats Safe Everyone health insurance.
The new coverage will eventually cost taxpayers about $ 1.3 billion a year, money that is part of the new state budget that Governor Gavin Newsom and state legislatures unveiled on Friday evening. The budget is due to be voted on Monday in the state legislature, with Newsom likely to sign it before the state’s fiscal year begins on Thursday.
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Dr. Carlos Ruvalcaba, left, examines the patient Paula Medrano, an undocumented immigrant, in the Clinica Sierra Vista Elm in Fresno in a file photo from March 2010. (AP photo / Marcio Jose Sanchez)
California has spent a lot of money making sure everyone has health insurance. The state spends millions each year helping people pay their monthly insurance premiums, and the only state offers subsidies for families of four who earn up to $ 157,200 a year. California also taxes people who refuse to get health insurance.
However, according to UC Berkeley Labor Center, about 3.2 million people in the state are projected to be out of health insurance next year. Almost half of these people live in the country illegally, which means they are not eligible for full Medicaid benefits and other health insurance assistance programs.
Proponents have been pushing for years that all low-income immigrants should be eligible for Medicaid. But the Newsom government has resisted the cost – an estimated $ 2.4 billion a year according to a legal analysis – and instead opted for a phased approach.
Still, the inclusion of benefits for immigrants over 50 was a victory for some health care advocates whose efforts were hampered last year due to a budget deficit projected by the pandemic.
“I have dedicated my whole life to growing vegetables and fruits in the Coachella Valley. I am old and can no longer work in the fields. It’s time for California to think about the health of people like me who gave everything without getting anything, ”said Josefa Barragán, a member of TODEC, an immigrant advocacy group in California’s Inland Empire and Coachella Valley.
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The budget proposal also makes more elderly people eligible for Medicaid by abolishing the “wealth test”. In general, people on low incomes are eligible for Medicaid. But for people 65 and over, having a low income is not enough. You are also not allowed to have assets of more than $ 2,000 per month for individuals and $ 3,000 per month for couples.
Assets exclude homes and second cars, but include things like cash in checking and savings accounts and some jewelry, excluding wedding or engagement rings and heirlooms. Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, called the wealth test “an antiquated policy that resulted in seniors and people with disabilities losing their health insurance when they have savings – even a modest amount for housing or an emergency.”
The elimination of the wealth test will add an additional 17,802 people to the state’s Medicaid program in 2020, according to an analysis by the Department of Health, which costs about $ 220 million a year.
The budget proposal is an agreement between Newsom and the state’s top two legislative leaders – Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Speaker of Parliament Anthony Rendon. All three are Democrats with large majorities in both chambers of the legislature.
The proposal equates to $ 262.6 billion in government spending, including the record reserves of $ 25.2 billion. However, it is not a final budget agreement between the three parties as some important details have not yet been finalized. Legislators are still negotiating with Newsom on details of a rate hike for childcare providers and how to spend $ 4 billion fighting forest fires and the drought.
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