Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, approximately 707,000 individuals aged 26 to 49 in California will become eligible for Medi-Cal coverage, a significant portion of whom are illegal immigrants, according to the California Department of Health Care Services.
The state previously expanded Medi-Cal coverage to illegal immigrant children in 2016 and to individuals under 26 in 2020, then extended it to those over 50 in 2022.
However, this does not guarantee health care for all illegal immigrants—around 520,000 earn too much to be qualified for Medi-Cal and do not have employer coverage, according to the university.
Nationwide, California will be the only state that offers free health care for those with low income regardless of citizenship status. This stands in contrast to federal programs such as Medicaid that exclude illegal immigrants from health care for low-income residents.
Critics fear expanding free health care could encourage more illegal border crossings.
Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, told the Associated Press after the 2022 announcement of the Medi-Cal expansion that the program would be “a magnet for those who are not legally authorized to enter the country.”
“I think many of us are very sympathetic to the immigrant community, but we really wish we had better control of who enters this nation and this state.”
As hundreds of thousands anticipate accessing Medi-Cal coverage next year, millions of Californians may face removal from the rolls after the state resumed verifying the eligibility of covered residents. This follows the expiration earlier this year of federal health care policies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Currently, over 15 million Californians—or 40 percent of the state’s population—are enrolled in the program.
