{"id":898242,"date":"2026-06-28T08:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T08:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/898242\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T08:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T08:10:43","slug":"in-governors-race-voters-face-stark-choice-on-immigrant-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/898242\/","title":{"rendered":"In governor’s race, voters face stark choice on immigrant healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For decades, Californians have generally said immigrants, who make up more than a quarter<\/a> of the state\u2019s population and a third<\/a> of its labor force, are beneficial to the state and its economy. But budget instability and concerns about rising costs are spilling into a debate over the controversial and expensive policy of allowing<\/a> low-income immigrants without legal status to receive state-funded health coverage.<\/p>\n

Now, Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton present a stark choice to voters in the race to be the next governor at a moment when public support for the state\u2019s generous safety net is starting to fray.<\/p>\n

Both frame the choice as an economic one.<\/p>\n

Becerra, former secretary of Health and Human Services under President Biden, has said it would be \u201cfoolish\u201d<\/a> to exclude the poorest immigrants from routine care and push them into expensive emergency rooms on the taxpayer\u2019s dime<\/a>. Hilton, a conservative commentator backed by President Trump, has promised to eliminate their coverage and has echoed national Republicans who have skewered California\u2019s expansions<\/a> to bolster their claims of fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program.<\/p>\n

With voters nationwide worried about inflation and the rising cost of living, some Californians might feel less inclined to provide full healthcare coverage to those lacking legal status. What the state does next could have profound implications for its healthcare system and sprawling economy.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, California lawmakers used state dollars to expand Medi-Cal, offering all low-income residents comprehensive coverage regardless of immigration status. But enrollment surpassed initial projections, as did the cost. Medi-Cal coverage of immigrants without legal status costs the state roughly $10 billion a year<\/a>, according to California\u2019s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office, more than double the initial estimates.<\/p>\n

California lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who championed the program<\/a>, have approved major rollbacks<\/a> of benefits for those residents. They said the state can\u2019t afford ballooning healthcare costs amid massive federal cuts<\/a> from the GOP tax-and-spending law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; the California Health and Human Services Agency projected up to 3.4 million Medi-Cal enrollees could lose coverage<\/a> and the state could lose more than $30 billion a year in federal funding under the law, causing major disruptions in the safety net health program.Medi-Cal\u2019s budget for fiscal year 2026-27 is $217 billion, and the program serves more than 14 million Californians.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, many legal U.S. residents<\/a> and citizens have seen their health premium payments skyrocket this year after Congress let enhanced federal Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of December.<\/p>\n

As the state grappled with a deficit last year, a majority of likely voters in California said \u2014 for the first time in nearly a decade \u2014 they opposed providing health insurance to immigrants without legal status, according to a poll<\/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state faces major challenges, and healthcare is one of the major expenditures,\u201d said Mark Baldassare, the institute\u2019s survey director. \u201cPeople have become more selective about how they want to see those limited healthcare dollars spent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilton, running on a platform of affordability and lowering taxes, has seized on the sentiment, casting health coverage for immigrants without legal status as deeply unfair<\/a> and a direct threat<\/a> to the state\u2019s ability to help citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop taking money from California taxpayers who can barely afford their healthcare to give free healthcare to citizens of other countries who shouldn\u2019t even be here,\u201d Hilton said in a Facebook video<\/a> the morning of the June 2 primary.<\/p>\n

In campaign stump speeches, Hilton promised<\/a> to use the savings to lower healthcare costs<\/a> for other Californians without detailing how. Hilton did not respond to requests from KFF Health News for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir messaging is very, very simple: It\u2019s an us vs. them,\u201d said Roger Salazar, a Democratic political consultant who represents a coalition of healthcare advocates who argue providing coverage to people who can\u2019t afford it strengthens the workforce and, as a result, the economy. \u201cIt\u2019s just a question of convincing the average voter that it\u2019s much better economically.\u201d<\/p>\n

A son of immigrants<\/a>, Becerra for decades pushed to extend safety net benefits<\/a> in Congress and has made a similar pitch in his campaign for governor. He did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigrants, whether documented or not, work hard. They pay taxes, and sometimes they get injured on the job or their children get sick,\u201d Becerra said<\/a> during a debate last month. \u201cIt would be foolish to tell a family that they don\u2019t have access to the pediatrician or the family doc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becerra, who could become California\u2019s first elected Latino governor, objected last year<\/a> when Newsom and legislative leaders decided to freeze Medi-Cal enrollment<\/a> for adults without legal status, cut benefits, and impose monthly premiums.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop treating coverage as a budget variable that expands in good years and contracts when revenue dips,\u201d Becerra wrote last month in response to an Orange County Register candidate questionnaire<\/a>. He has vowed to pursue<\/a> new, steady revenue to fund basic services, such as by upping taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Californians.<\/p>\n

In 2023, California was home to about 2.3 million people without legal status, representing roughly 8%<\/a> of the state\u2019s labor force, according to the Pew Research Center<\/a>. And 1 in 5 California children<\/a> live in a family that includes at least one member without legal status, according to the California Department of Education. Healthcare economists say giving people access to preventive healthcare saves taxpayers money in the long run by keeping the workforce healthy<\/a> and relieving pressure on an overburdened system.<\/p>\n

That, Baldassare said, wasn\u2019t a hard argument to make during the COVID-19 pandemic, when immigrants were celebrated as essential workers<\/a> and the link between individual well-being and public health was more obvious<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Medi-Cal costs to cover roughly 1.4 million immigrants have ballooned<\/a>, according to the latest estimates from the Department of Health Care Services. Because only some lawfully present immigrants are eligible for federal Medicaid benefits, states like California that cover other populations<\/a> must do so exclusively with state funding.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s budget experts have warned<\/a> that maintaining full Medi-Cal coverage for immigrants without seeking additional revenue would destabilize the state\u2019s long-term fiscal outlook.<\/p>\n

In a legislative hearing last year, Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio questioned whether California taxpayers would prioritize the expansions, saying he doubted \u201cillegal immigrant healthcare in the general fund would be at the top of their list.\u201d<\/p>\n

After lawmakers approved the spending reductions, support for immigrant health coverage dropped, Baldassare said. Now lawmakers and Newsom are negotiating further cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

David Hayes-Bautista, who has spent his career studying the economic contributions of Latinos and immigrants, said Californians without legal status have higher labor force participation<\/a> and tend to work in industries and occupations that don\u2019t offer employer-based health insurance<\/a>. As a result, many resort to Medi-Cal, saddling the state with the healthcare costs instead of employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia, as a state, has the world\u2019s fourth-largest GDP, which is true thanks to Latinos,\u201d Hayes-Bautista, director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA, said. Without contributions from Latinos, many without legal status, it drops to eighth place, about the size of Italy\u2019s economy<\/a>, he added.<\/p>\n

Immigrant advocates hope to have a more vocal champion in Becerra, the favorite to become governor in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will fight, he will push back, he will do all that he can,\u201d said state Sen. Mar\u00eda Elena Durazo, a former labor leader who has championed the immigrant healthcare expansions. \u201cThat\u2019s the most we could expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mai-Duc writes for KFF Health News<\/a>, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF \u2014 an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, Californians have generally said immigrants, who make up more than a quarter of the state\u2019s population…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":898243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[35],"tags":[277555,276,18903,9109,21591,71316,210,1141,1142,115316,8618,363881,18487,363882,290,363883,67,132,68,9111,1628],"class_list":["post-898242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-becerra","tag-california","tag-california-lawmaker","tag-californians","tag-coverage","tag-decade","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hilton","tag-immigrant","tag-legal-status","tag-medi-cal","tag-stark-choice","tag-state","tag-state-funded-health-coverage","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-voter","tag-year"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116826723206043610","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}