(The Center Square) – Medi-Cal is paying an estimated $608 million per month for cooking, shopping, cleaning, and laundry services for elderly and disabled low-income California residents – including illegal immigrants – at their homes and mostly paid to their relatives, state records show.
These services are part of a federally-and-state-funded program called In-Home Supportive Services, which was designed to get people assistance at home without having to move to an expensive facility. But the program has grown so rapidly that it is responsible for 41% of job gains in California since January 2019, when Gov. Gavin Newsom took office.
By the end of 2025, the program had grown to 799,379 taxpayer-funded “providers,” making IHSS “provider,” according to federal occupational data, the most common job in the state…