California To Offer Taxpayer-Funded Healthcare Benefits To Illegal Immigrants

California To Offer Taxpayer-Funded Healthcare Benefits To Illegal Immigrants

On Tuesday, Governor Newsom signed a bill into law that would provide medical benefits for young adults living in the country illegally.

California has now become the first ever state to offer taxpayer-funded health benefits to young migrants living in the country illegally. This rule only applies to individuals, who come under the low-income group and are of or below the age of 25.

On Tuesday, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed this bill into a law that would allow immigrants to qualify for the Medicaid program in California regardless of their immigration status in the country. 



This news came right after California banned the prevailing discrimination against black people for wearing their natural hairstyles. The ban was the first of its kind that allowed styles like afros, twists, braids, and locks to be worn at places of work and schools. California became the first state to sign this bill into law and Governor Newsom played a huge role in it.



According to a report by Fox News, the lawmakers expect this provision to cater to around 90,000 people. The amount that taxpayers would have to spend in order to cover these benefits has been estimated to be $98 million.

This law comes as an expansion to the already present ruling which provides health facilities to children and individuals who are 18 years of age or younger notwithstanding the legal status of their stay in the country.



The aforementioned health insurance benefits will be provided to everyone who is 25 or below, however, the policy strictly states that individuals whose income is low enough and falls under their criteria will qualify for it.

In the past, the Democratic lawmakers urged to provide similar benefits to the elderly -- 65 and older who were residing in the country illegally but this proposal was rejected by Newsom for being too expensive (it would have cost them around $3.4 billion to cover adults residing in California illegally). However, it all changed on July 1.



Addressing a crowd of supporters at Sacramento City College, Newsom said, "we’re going to get the rest of that done." Continuing further he said, "Mark my word...We’re going to make progress next year and the year after on that. That’s what universal health care means. Everybody, not just some folks."

California Governor and his fellow Democrats are planning on expanding this health coverage to more undocumented adults in the following years. Officials advocating this decision explain this step as a measure to improve the well-being of the immigrant population by providing them access to such medical benefits. 



But such a huge decision did spark a lot of debate among Republicans who are now worried about illegal migrants flocking to California in search of healthcare coverage. To this decision, President Donald Trump dismissed the California government saying they don't "treat their people as well as they treat illegal immigrants."

Trump further expressed, "At what point does it stop? It's crazy what they are doing. And it's mean. And it's very unfair to our citizens, and we're going to stop it. But we may need an election to stop it, and we may need to get back the House."



Although it is true that the Former Democratic U.S. President Barrack Obama, too expanded the Medicaid benefits for immigrants, however, he saw to it that the coverage only allowed legal immigrants to take advantage of this. During an interview, the executive vice president for health policy at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Larry Levitt said, "I think the anti-immigrant stance by the Trump administration has in some sense created this as the bigger issue." Levitt continued saying, "The Trump administration has pushed Democrats even further to defend immigration and provide services to people who are already here."



On Monday California brought back the $214.8 billion budget levies tax on people who refuse to buy private health insurance. The officials stated how this money collected from this tax will be used to assist middle-income families which would include four-member families with about $150,000 annual income. After hearing Trump's stance on his policies, the California governor was quoted as saying by the New York Times, "To Donald Trump: eat your heart out."


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