Undocumented seniors would be eligible for California health care in Gavin Newsom’s budget

Gov. Gavin Newsom revealed a state budget plan on Friday that would extend health care coverage for undocumented adults, ages 60 and over.

The announcement comes amid multiyear efforts from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers to expand Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, to undocumented immigrants. In recent years, advocates had successfully expanded health care coverage for undocumented children and young adults under the age of 26.



“We’re expanding health care, regardless of your immigration status ...(for) everybody 60 years and over,” Newsom said during a press conference announcing his budget plan.

If passed in the state Legislature, California would be the second state to expand health care to undocumented seniors, providing coverage to tens of thousands of undocumented Californians. Illinois recently became the first state in the nation to extend health care coverage to undocumented seniors 65 and over.

State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, applauded the inclusion of undocumented Californians between the ages of 60 and 64 in the proposed health care expansion. She previously introduced legislation to provide Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented seniors, ages 65 and over, and said she still planned to move forward with the bill.

“We got to a significant milestone today,” she said.

Durazo said there’s “no doubt” that the lack of health care access among the state’s undocumented contributed to that population experiencing higher rates of deaths due to the pandemic.

California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office has estimated an expansion like the one Newsom is proposing would cost about $250 million a year. Newsom’s proposed budget would allocate $1 billion toward the expansion and offer coverage starting in May 2022.

“These are incredibly difficult things to predict,” said Keely Bosler, director of the California Department of Finance. “I understand the LAO (estimate) is much lower than that and we will be reviewing their assumptions in the coming weeks.”

Health care and immigrant advocates are celebrating the announcement.

“We’ve been advocating for the expansion of Medi-Cal for all Californians regardless of status for several years, so it’s something we’re really .... excited to see,” said Sarah Dar, director of health and public benefits policy at the California Immigrant Policy Center.

One study by the University of Southern California showed that the COVID-19 pandemic had deadlier consequences for working-age Latino immigrants.

Latino immigrants, between the ages of 20 and 54, are 11 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than U.S.-born people who are not Latino, researchers found.

Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented adults, between the ages of 26 and 59, is not part of Newsom’s budget proposal, but the California Latino Legislative Caucus is prioritizing a bill this year that would extend coverage for those Californians.

Jeffrey Reynoso, executive director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, said Latino communities, particularly undocumented seniors, have borne the brunt of the pandemic’s impact, representing a disproportionate number of COVID-related cases and deaths.

“We see this as a tremendous investment in redressing the long-standing structural barriers for health care for seniors, particularly those who are undocumented,” he said.

This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 10:52 AM.