
A California lawmaker is planning to re-introduce a bill allowing illegal immigrants throughout the state to get Medicaid.
State Assembly member Joaquin Arambula’s bill would make California the first state to give Medicaid coverage to people regardless of immigration status. The state already provides Medicaid coverage to illegal immigrants under the age of 19, the Washington Examiner reports.
Arambula’s plan is estimated to cost $3 billion a year and could cover 1.2 million of the state’s 1.8 million uninsured illegal immigrants.
A similar bill was introduced last session by Arambula and state Sen. Ricardo Lara, but it focused coverage only on young adults aged 19 to 26 and immigrants over the age of 65. Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown refused to fund it.
Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom initially campaigned on single-payer health care.
Extending Medicaid to illegal immigrants could prompt more illegals to move to the state to receive government-funded health care, critics say.