California has become the first state to offer taxpayer-funded health benefits to young adults living in the country illegally.
Lawmakers are considering separate proposals to broaden Medi-Cal eligibility. One bill targets undocumented immigrants age 65 and up, and another would make all Californians eligible regardless of age or immigration status. Similar efforts have failed repeatedly over the past several years because of cost concerns, but California now has a $75.7-billion budget surplus.
Unlike the Medi-Cal measures, which rely on state funding, the bill authored by Santiago, working with California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, would transfer the cost onto employers and insurance companies. It would allow parents or stepparents regardless of age whose children claim them as dependents on their taxes to be added to private health plans regulated by the state. They include job-based plans and those purchased on the open market or through Covered California. Employ
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SACRAMENTO When Laura Chavez’s 74-year-old mom needed eye surgery last month, Chavez paid cash for the procedure.
The cost? $15,000 and that was for just one eye. She couldn’t afford both.
Her mom, Esperanza Chavez, doesn’t qualify for Medicare because of her immigration status. And she can’t find a private health insurance plan under $1,000 a month.
“We’re constantly having to make decisions based on costs rather than ‘Is this medication really going to help keep you alive and healthy?’” said Laura Chavez, 41, a San Franciscan whose mother has diabetes. “It’s just unfair to have to think about it that way.”
You’ve added your kids to your health plan. What about mom?
When Laura Chavez s 74-year-old mom needed eye surgery last month, Chavez paid cash for the procedure.
The cost? $15,000 and that was for just one eye. She couldn t afford both.
Her mom, Esperanza Chavez, doesn t qualify for Medicare because of her immigration status. And she can t find a private health insurance plan under $1,000 a month. We re constantly having to make decisions based on costs rather than Is this medication really going to help keep you alive and healthy? said Laura Chavez, 41, a San Franciscan whose mother has diabetes. It s just unfair to have to think about it that way.
Adam Beam
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California could become the only state to let adult children add their parents as dependents to their health insurance plans, a policy proposal aimed at increasing insurance coverage among low-income people living in the country illegally who aren’t eligible for government-funded coverage.
Former President Barack Obama’s health law let parents keep their adult children on their health plans until at least age 26, a change that helped millions of young people transition to adulthood as jobs were scarce after the Great Recession. That change was so popular that many states have gone further and let adults keep their children on until age 30.