The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has proposed a nail to the registration of immigrants anymore for legal status without legal status for the benefits of medical care based on 2026 as the State faces economic uncertainty.
Newsom described its state spending plan for almost $ 332 billion on Wednesday, revealing that California faces a budget deficit of $ 12 billion.
“California is under assault,” said Newsom. “We have a president who is reckless in terms of assaulting those growth engines.”
The Democratic governor said that freezing does not mean that California is moving away from his support for immigrants.
“No state has done more than the state of California, no state will continue to do more than the long -term California state. And that is a point of pride,” said Newsom.
The decision, The details of which were revealed before the presentation of review of the Budget on WednesdayIt is driven by a higher price than expected in the program and the economic uncertainty of federal tariff policies, said Newsom. It also occurs when Newsom faces the last years in the governor’s office, and speculations continue to increase over their future political perspectives.
The impulse of California to sacrifice the free medical care benefits to all low -income adults, regardless of their immigration status, It was announced at the end of 2023. Newsom promoted the expansion planned as “a transformative step to strengthen the medical care system for all Californians.”
However, the cost has exceeded the initial estimate of $ 6.4 billion of the State in more than $ 2 billion.
Even so, already in March of this year, Newsom suggested to journalists that he was not consulting the health benefits of low income that they live in the country illegally, even with California with a medicaid deficit of $ 6.2 billion. He also repeatedly defended the expansion, saying that he saves money to the State in the long term. The program is funded by the State and does not use federal dollars.
According to the Newsom Plan, low-income adults without legal status will no longer be eligible to request Medi-Cal, the State Medicaid program, from 2026. Those who are already registered will not be expelled from the tribe of Act and Rollment children. Newsom’s office did not say how long the freezing would last.
From 2027, adults with “unsatisfactory immigration status” in Medi-Cal, including those who have no legal status and those who have legal status but are not eligible for Medicaid financed by the federal government, will also have to pay $ 100 months. The governor’s office said it is in line with the average cost paid by those who are in health plans subsidized through the California market itself. There is no cousin for most current people in Medi-Cal.
“We believe that people should have some skin in the game, since these are contributions,” said Newsom.
In total, the Newsom office estimated that the changes will save $ 5.4 billion for 2028-2029.
The Medi-Cal expansion, combined with other factors, such as the increase in pharmacy costs and the greatest registration by the elderly, has forced California to borrow and authorize new funds to connect the billionaire hole earlier this year. California provides free medical attention to more than a third of its 39 million people.
The proposals are ahead of Newsom’s scheduled presentation on the updated budget. The recovery of the forest fires of Los Angeles, the changing federal tariff policies and the expansion of medical care are pressing the mass state budget of California. Legislators await a multimillionaire deficit this year, and weaker deficits are projected for several years.
Newsom blamed the tariff policies of President Donald Trump for the weak, estimating that the policies have cost the State $ 16 billion in tax revenues. California is also preparing for the main budget successes if Republicans in Congress follow a plan to reduce billions of dollars in Medicaid and penalize states for providing medical care to immigrants without legal status.
Newsom now opens budgetary negotiations with legislators and it is not clear how the Democrats who control the Legislature will react to their plan to freeze a new registration of Medi-Cal for some immigrants. A final budget proposal must be signed in June. California’s budget is, with much, the largest among the states.
“This will be a very challenging budget,” said Jesse Gabriel, who presides over the Budget Committee, before Newsom proposals were announced. “We will have to make some difficult decisions.”
The budget proposals presented this week will be based on some of the impacts of federal policies, but many unknowns are left.
The governor has already said that he plans to climb the reference expense this year. Analysts and economists also warn that California will face higher deficits in tens of billions of dollars in the next year to market volatility of economic slowness and the stock market caused by the tariff war.
The news of the budget proposed for the first time in January included little new expenses. But it allows the State to completely implement the first program of universal transition infants in the country and increase the State’s fiscal and television tax credit to $ 750 million annually to recover the Hollywood works that have come to New York and Georgia. Recently he asked Trump to approve a fiscal loan of films of $ 7.5 billion at the federal level.
Last year, Newsom and the Legislature agreed to immerse themselves at the bottom of the rainy day, cut the expense, including a cut of almost 10% for almost all state departments, and temporarily increase taxes on some budget to the deficit. Estimated $ 46.8