California Governor Gavin Newsom recently proposed universal health care for all low-income residents in the state, including illegal immigrants, when his 2022-23 state budget plan was released.
During a press conference, Newsom unveiled his $213 billion “California Blueprint Plan,” funded by the $45.7 billion state surplus.
The plan contains proposals that include a statewide gun buyback program touted to increase public safety and a measure to expand health care coverage to all low-income Californians, regardless of their immigration status.
“Here’s the big one: California is poised to be if this proposal is supported, the first state in the country to achieve access to health coverage,” said Newsom during the briefing.
“So, what does that mean? It means full-scope Medi-Cal, including long-term care, IHSS [In-Home Supportive Services], and behavioral health to all low-income Californians, regardless of immigration status.”
If approved, the measure also would allow illegal immigrants to obtain state-funded abortions under California’s Medi-Cal system. Newsom said he estimates that the plan will be fully implemented by January 2024.
“With major new investments to tackle the greatest threats to our state’s future, the California Blueprint lights the path forward to continue the historic progress we’ve made on our short-term and long-term challenges, including responding to the evolving pandemic, fighting the climate crisis, taking on persistent inequality and homelessness, keeping our streets safe and more,” the governor said in a press release.
“As California’s robust recovery continues, we’re doubling down on our work to ensure all our communities can thrive.”
Abortions for out-of-state patients
Since 2016, California has allowed children under 18 to receive taxpayer-funded health care regardless of immigration status.
Additionally, the California Future of Abortion Council is pushing lawmakers to make California the abortion hub of the nation. To accommodate the expected stream of people entering California to access abortion in the upcoming years, the Newsom-backed council wants taxpayers to pay for patients’ travel expenses and stays traveling to California to receive an abortion.
In a recently released report, the council recommended the state increase funding for abortion services to include reimbursing out-of-state abortion seekers for lodging, gas, childcare, doula services, even lost wages.
During recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, the conservative-leaning majority appeared poised to uphold a 15-week ban on abortions in Mississippi.
Abortion rights groups warn that the high court’s pending decision could set off similar bans in other states, sending a flood of patients into California and other pro-abortion states.
According to Amy Moy, Essential Health Access chief external affairs officer, “As a majority of Supreme Court Justices appear ready to undermine the bodily autonomy of millions and allow extreme abortion restrictions to stand, California can and must go further and do more to ensure that anyone seeking abortion services within our borders can get the care they want, when and where they need it.”
Newsom has previously labeled California a “reproductive freedom state” and already has some of the strongest laws on patient privacy and protecting abortion access.
Newsom signed a pair of abortion rights bills earlier in 2021, citing the need to protect reproductive and sexual rights access in light of “unprecedented attacks” in states like Mississippi and Texas. At the time, Newsom also helped launch the council whose members include NARAL- Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.
“It is of outsized importance that California asserts itself as the opposite of these states, states like Texas,” said Newsom during the signing.
California anti-abortion groups across the state are outraged.
Jonathan Keller, CEO of the California Family Council, said he wasn’t surprised by the report’s proposals and signaled a new low for Newsom.
Keller said the governor and other Democrat state officials should be focused on preventing wildfires and reducing homelessness instead of enacting abortion-rights laws.
“It really shows Newsom’s misplaced priorities,” said Keller. “I guess what he thinks is his biggest ticket to reelection is to pay for the abortions of out-of-state patients.”
Napa-based Life Legal Defense Foundation also cast Newsom’s move as “extremist” while the California Right to Life Education fund decried the move saying it, “nakedly prioritizes abortion over carrying a child to term.”
