Undeterred by his state’s epic $68 billion budget deficit, Governor Gavin Newsom has managed to find spare cash for free healthcare for illegals.
According to the Washington Examiner:California became the first state on Monday to offer comprehensive health insurance to all undocumented immigrants, a plan expected to expand to roughly 700,000 residents living in the Golden State.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and state lawmakers agreed in 2022 to expand the state’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, to include people of all immigration statuses and ages. But it also comes when the state is at a record budget deficit, sparking sharp criticism from Republicans and other conservative groups that fear the expansion will further strain California's existing healthcare coverage.
The expansion is expected to cost the state roughly $1.2 billion for the first six months, before increasing to around $3.1 billion per year, according to estimates released last year. It will include undocumented immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49, helping put California Democrats closer to delivering on their goal to achieve universal healthcare in the state.
A minimum wage hike to $16 took effect in California on new year’s too, and a hike to $20 an hour specifically for fast-food employees (the highest in the industry) is set to take effect in April. In response, Pizza Hut alone announced they’d be laying off 1,200 delivery drivers.
The most recent Census data released last month showed the state suffering its third straight year of population loss. While the U.S. gained over 1.6 million people last year (0.5% growth), California’s declined another fifth of a percent, which some have celebrated as a slowing of the bleeding.
Gov. Newsom has tried to defend his state’s population loss by pointing out that while California loses the most residents in terms of total people lost, Mississippi, Louisiana, and West Virginia lose more residents as a percentage of overall population. While he wants you to hear “red states are losing population too due to bad Republican policies,” the reality is that the overwhelming majority of those leaving those three red states head to other red states, primarily Texas and Florida. Nobody is heading from there to states like California.
