The California State Senate is expected to pass Senate Bill 4 in the next few days which would allow illegal immigrants to receive free health insurance through the Medi-Cal.
The bill would allow immigrants who often have no way of receiving healthcare — outside of free clinics and emergency rooms — to acquire coverage through an exchange. The price for the Medi-Cal coverage for illegal immigrants would be paid entirely by the state and not split with the federal government unlike this currently covered by Medi-Cal.
This is not the first time Golden State legislators have tried to hand free heath care to illegals courtesy of the taxpayers of California.
A similar bill, also proposed by Lara, failed to clear the appropriations committee last year because it would have reportedly cost the state $1.3 billion, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The newer version bill is reportedly cheaper for the state.
“The numbers are still being worked out, but we’ve brought it down from what we once thought would be $1 billion to close to $400-to-$800 million a year,” Lara said in early April, according to the San Francisco Gate. “It looks like something that’s do-able to cover folks.”
The Mercury News reported the price tag could fall between $174 million to $740 million, depending if President Barack Obama’s executive order giving 5 million illegal immigrants deportation protection — an order that is currently blocked in federal court — takes effect.
While it appears the supposedly smaller outlay will spark the bill to passage in the State Senate, its road to enactment is still fraught with pitfalls.
“A health care bill would certainly incentivize more illegal immigrants to come here, and that is something that California at this point does not need,” said Joe Guzzardi, spokesman for Californians For Population Stabilization in Santa Barbara.
“We’ve got lots of problems to solve — some are overwhelming, like the drought,” Guzzardi said. “More legislation for immigrants would just put more strain on the state.”
One observer even believes California’s governor Jerry Brown would veto this bill
Even if the Legislature passes it, he said, the bill stands a good chance of being vetoed by the governor, who “is not particularly sympathetic” to adding permanent costs to the state budget.
In addition, California would need a waiver from the federal government under Obamacare to sell health insurance to illegals in their exchange.
It seems a thin reed to hang the chances of stopping this giveaway to illegal immigrants on the veto pen of noted liberal Jerry Brown and the lack of a waiver from the Obama Administration which has traditionally handed out waivers to favored groups at will.
