A bill is making its way through the Virginia Senate calling for taxpayers to spend millions of dollars a year providing health insurance to immigrants under age 19 who can’t qualify for federal benefits because of their immigration status.
This proposed program, known as the “Cover All Kids Act” was presented in SB 231 by Senator Ghazala Hashmi.
Last week, when the bill was before the Education and Health Subcommittee, Senator Barbara Favola said, “What this bill does essentially is it creates a health insurance program for individuals who, because of immigration status, are not eligible under federal law to participate in Medicaid.”
She later added that, by law, Medicaid, already covers any emergency care needed by those who are not insured. Nonetheless, she said there has been very compelling testimony earlier in SB 231’s journey to warrant support.
If passed, the measure would provide insurance to anyone under 19 who is uninsured and would qualify for Medicaid if it wasn’t for immigration status.