On New Year’s Day, California became the first state to expand its state healthcare program eligibility to include all undocumented immigrants.
Roughly 700,000 immigrants illegally residing in California, regardless of age and documentation status, will be provided healthcare coverage by the Golden State.
The program is estimated to cost taxpayers $3.1 billion per year and puts California one step closer to its goal of providing universal health care to its roughly 39 million residents.
“This historic investment speaks to California’s commitment to health care as a human right,” California State Sen. María Elena Durazo said in a statement in May.
Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive full coverage health insurance but were allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services under Medi-Cal as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.
California first extended health care benefits to low-income children without legal status in 2015. Under the new plan, one of California’s most ambitious coverage expansions in a decade, every undocumented immigrant between the ages 26 and 49 will receive full coverage, too.