Gavin Newsom is introducing new requirements for a program that provides healthcare to undocumented immigrants as California grapples with a budget shortfall. Newsom attributes the state’s financial challenges to factors like Donald Trump’s policies.
California is dealing with a $12 billion deficit, partially due to decisions made by the progressive governor who might have aspirations for the presidency. One of the initiatives includes a state-funded healthcare initiative for undocumented individuals residing in California.
As a deeply Democratic state, California was among the first to offer free healthcare benefits to low-income adults, regardless of their immigration status, last year. Newsom viewed this ambitious undertaking as a path to achieving universal healthcare in the most populous state in the country.
But the cost ran $2.7 billion more than the administration had anticipated. The state has more than 1.6 million people without legal status enrolled in its health care program this fiscal year, according to the budget.
Under Newsom’s plan, low-income adults without legal status will no longer be eligible to apply for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, starting in 2026.
Those who are already enrolled won’t be kicked off their plans, and the changes won’t impact children. Newsom didn’t say how long the freeze would last.
A spokesman for Newsom told DailyMail.com that these are ‘new rules to curtail costs’ before laying the blame at the feet of President Trump.
‘To be very clear, these proposals are the results of a $16 billion Trump Slump and higher-than-expected health care utilization,’ Izzy Gardon said.
‘Because of these outside factors, the state must take difficult but necessary steps to ensure fiscal stability and preserve the long-term viability of Medi-Cal for all Californians.’
Newsom in March suggested he was not considering rolling back health benefits for immigrants as the state was grappling with a $6.2 billion Medicaid shortfall.
He also repeatedly defended the expansion, saying it saves the state money in the long run.
The program is state-funded and does not use federal dollars.
Under Newsom’s plan, low-income adults without legal status will no longer be eligible to apply for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, starting in 2026.
Those who are already enrolled won’t be kicked off their plans, and the changes won’t impact children.
Newsom didn’t say how long the freeze would last.
Starting in 2027, adults with ‘unsatisfactory immigration status’ on Medi-Cal will also have to pay a $100 monthly premium.
The governor’s office said that is in line with the average cost paid by those who are on subsidized heath plans through California’s own marketplace.
There is no premium for most people currently on Medi-Cal.
‘We believe that people should have some skin in the game as it relates to contributions,’ Newsom said.
Newsom’s office estimated the changes will save the state $5.4 billion by fiscal year 2028-2029.
The Medi-Cal expansion, combined with other factors such as rising pharmacy costs and larger enrollment by older people, has forced California to borrow and authorize new funding to plug the multibillion hole earlier this year.
California provides free health care to more than a third of its 39 million people.
The removal of illegal migrants has been one of the key parts of the second term Trump agenda, headlined by ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan and ‘ICE Barbie’ Kristi Noem.
Raids in major cities like Los Angeles come as reports suggest President Trump was underwhelmed by the number of illegal immigrants who have been rounded up and deported in his first months back in office.
Newsom, 57, was among the Democrats’ most articulate surrogates last year, even as he brushed off speculation he was seeking the White House and made the case to reelect President Biden.
‘I’d love him to run for president on the other side,’ Trump said of Newsom last week.
Newsom has clashed with a number of Trump policies but recently offered to work with the president on a $7.5 billion film production tax credit after Trump’s stunning proposal to slap a 100 percent tariff on films ‘produced in foreign lands.’
He brought up Newsom in a backhanded way, once again turning his name into an insult by calling him ‘Gavin New-scum’ while seated alongside new Canadian PM Mark Carney, at an event where Trump softened his push to make Canada the 51st state by saying it ‘takes two to tango.’
Trump, 78, started tearing into a high-speed rail project that California voters approved back in 2008, with costs ballooning to an estimated $100 billion.
As Trump described it in the Oval Office, it is a ‘little train going from San Francisco to Los Angeles that’s being run by Gavin New-scum, the governor of California.’
‘He has got that train is the worst cost overrun I’ve ever seen. It’s like totally out of control,’ Trump said.
He complained that it’s ‘hundreds of billions of dollars for this stupid project that should have never been built.’
Part of the problem includes both the surges of illegal migrants combined with homeless encampments in the state’s major cities.
Downtown Los Angeles has been described as ‘third world’ after shocking footage revealed a homeless encampment with open fires in the street and trash-covered sidewalks in late March.
LA is currently home to more than 46,000 unhoused people, a 10 percent increase on the previous year, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
Homelessness in downtown LA in particular has exploded since the pandemic, with more than 10,000 more unhoused people on the streets since 2019.
Since 2015 homelessness in the city has increased 70 percent.
Services such as the Midnights Mission, whose main center stands just meters from the shocking video circulated online, have been pushed to the limits of their resources.
The Mission serves three meals a day to those living on the streets, as well as providing services such as temporary accommodation, a barbershop, and a women’s crisis center.
In just three years female homelessness in LA has increased 55 percent, according to the organization.
