SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom ran on a universal health care in California promise. Now, he says he’s delivering on the that promise with his latest budget proposal. However, the proposal looks to fill the gap for undocumented Californians between 26 and 50, but as it stands right now, they're the only group that doesn’t qualify for Medi-Cal.
Assembly member Vince Fong reacted to Newsom’s budget proposal to expand Medi-Cal to all 2.2 million undocumented Californians.
“Gov. Newsom is trying to be all things to all people and he’s on this roadshow promoting universal access in a way that I think destabilizes the Medi-Cal system. It’s unsustainable, and I don’t know if it’s going to provide quality health care. The governor is trying to split hairs in saying that, okay, I’m going to try and expand access. But is he providing more quality care to Californians? That is an open question. A lot of details still need to be provided, in terms of what can be accomplished in what the governor’s trying to accomplish in whether he can pay for it and whether it’s sustainable over a longer period of time,” said Fong.
Yet Assembly member Dr. Joaquin Arambula, who has championed his own bill to expand health care to the undocumented, said the governor’s proposal is a big win.
“That will mean an expansion of hundreds of thousands of Californians who make this state great, who will now be able to access preventative care that is so necessary for us,” Arambula said.
He says he’s seen the need firsthand because of his experience as an emergency room doctor. He said undocumented people, "would come and see me in the emergency room, oftentimes too late or late in their disease process and know there was so much more we could do in advance to help to prevent."
He said California can do better.
“The better way to do it is what we have always talked about, which is that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If we’re able to provide health care coverage and preventative medicine in advance, we can be more cost effective in delivering care for all who call this state home,” said Arambula.
Jose Torres is a policy and legislative advocate with Health Access California.
“Our philosophy is again, like, everyone benefits when everyone is covered. And we want to make sure that coverage is great quality and affordable and accessible for people,” said Torres
He too reacted to Newsom’s budget proposal.
“It’s a huge win. It’s a huge win and we recognize there is still work to make sure that we get this through the finish line. But for the undocumented community, this is an enormous victory,” Torres said.
Torres admitted he was undocumented for half of his life.
“For me, these are people like my tias and my tios that have lived here so much, contributed economically, socially, and personally. They pay taxes in various forms, that even though they’ve been participating in our society, they don’t have access to these benefits,” said Torres.
He knows many cite cost when opposing health care expansion. But he says there is significant costs to the current system that leaves the undocumented out.
“If they get sick, if anything happens, they have to go into the hospital, they have to go into the emergency room, specifically. And going to the emergency room and just getting stabilized for whatever they have going on is not preventative or primary care. And it ends up being more expensive then having those regular check-ups, having that access to preventative medicine,” said Torres.
