About 40,000 low-income adults living in the country illegally will not lose their government-funded health insurance over the next year under a new policy announced Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration . California already pays for low health care costs for adults 25 and older with income, regardless of their immigration status. A new law scheduled to take effect in January 2024 would expand those benefits to cover all adults who, but for their immigration status, would be eligible for the state’s Medicaid program. But between now and when this new law takes effect in 2024, about 40,000 young adults who already have Medicaid in California are expected to lose their benefits because they are older than 25. On Monday, the state Department of Health Care Services announced it will continue to cover those young people through the end of 2023 to ensure they don’t lose their benefits.”Providing continued coverage would means tens of thousands of young Californians won’t face interruptions in care, keeping them covered and healthier as a result,” said Jose Torres Casillas, policy and legislative advocate for Health Access California, an advocacy group. of consumer health care. “California is again leading the way to make our health care system work better for all communities, regardless of income, age or immigration status.” Nationwide, about 22.1 million people were living in the country illegally in 2020, or about 7% of the population, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health care organization. These people are not eligible for most federal public benefit programs, even though many of them have jobs and pay taxes. Some states, including California, have used their own money to cover the health care costs of this group. Eighteen states provide prenatal care to people regardless of their immigration status, while five states and the District of Columbia cover all children from low-income families regardless of their immigration status. California and Illinois recently made elderly immigrants eligible for their Medicaid programs. California was the first state to pay the health care costs of some adults living in the country illegally when, in 2019, state lawmakers voted to make people 25 and older eligible for Medicaid regardless of their status of immigration. This policy went into effect in 2020, right when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The federal government issued a public health emergency, which means no one can lose their Medicaid benefits. That’s why many young immigrants in California have been able to stay on Medicaid, even though they’re now older than 25 and technically no longer eligible. The federal public health emergency is expected to end soon. When it does, all those young adults who are now older than 25 would lose their benefits once they come up for renewal. Instead, the Newsom administration said it would delay those renewals until late 2023, giving them time for the new law to take effect.” Protecting these young people — who currently have Medi- Cal — from losing coverage, only to become eligible again soon after, will prevent unnecessary gaps in the health care services and drugs that people need,” said Connie Choi, policy director at the Policy Center. of Immigrants to California.
About 40,000 low-income adults living in the country illegally will not lose government-funded health insurance over the next year under a new policy announced Monday by California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration.
California already pays for the health care costs of low-income adults 25 and older, regardless of their immigration status. A new law scheduled to take effect in January 2024 would expand those benefits to cover all adults who, but for their immigration status, would be eligible for the state’s Medicaid program.
But between now and when this new law takes effect in 2024, about 40,000 young adults who already have Medicaid in California are expected to lose their benefits because they are older than 25. On Monday, the state Department of Health Care Services announced it will continue to cover those young people until the end of 2023 to make sure they don’t lose their benefits.
“Providing continued coverage means tens of thousands of young Californians won’t face interruptions in care, keeping them covered and healthier as a result,” said Jose Torres Casillas, policy and legislative advocate for Health Access California, a health care advocate for consumers. group. “California is once again leading the way in making our health care system work better for all communities, regardless of income, age or immigration status.”
Nationwide, about 22.1 million people were living in the country illegally in 2020, or about 7% of the population, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit health care organization. These people are not eligible for most federal public benefit programs, even though many have jobs and pay taxes.
Some states, including California, have used their own money to cover the health care costs of this group. Eighteen states provide prenatal care to people regardless of their immigration status, while five states and the District of Columbia cover all children from low-income families regardless of their immigration status. California and Illinois recently made elderly immigrants eligible for their Medicaid programs.
California was the first state to pay for the health care costs of some adults living in the country illegally when, in 2019, state lawmakers voted to make people 25 and older eligible for Medicaid regardless of status their immigration.
This policy went into effect in 2020, right when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The federal government issued a public health emergency, which means no one can lose their Medicaid benefits. That’s why many young immigrants in California have been able to stay on Medicaid, even though they’re now older than 25 and technically no longer eligible.
The federal public health emergency is expected to end soon. When it does, all those young adults who are now older than 25 would lose their benefits once they come up for renewal. Instead, the Newsom administration said it would delay those renewals until the end of 2023, giving them time for the new law to take effect.
“Protecting these young adults — who currently have Medi-Cal — from losing coverage, only to become eligible again soon after, will prevent unnecessary gaps in the health care services and medication that people have need,” said Connie Choi, director of policy at Immigrant California. Policy Center.