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Immigrants in California guaranteed free health care starting 2024
California will become the first state to guarantee health care for all immigrants. It's part of Governor Gavin Newsom's State Medicaid program starting 2024.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California has become the first state to guarantee free health care to all low-income immigrants.
Set to be in place by 2024, it's part of Governor Newsom's Medicaid program, which pledges to make all low-income adults eligible for health care.
Nationwide, low-income families get free health care through Medicaid, but the government doesn't pay for people who are living in the country illegally.
The move will cost about $2.7 billion per year.
Previous expansions of California’s Medicaid system have taken six months to a year to implement. But the Newsom administration says it needs a year and a half to complete this expansion because it is so much larger than the previous ones.
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