This is a proposal that last year did not support, but that in 2020 wants to move forward
LOS ANGELES – In his budget proposal for fiscal year 2020-21, California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to provide health coverage to undocumented low-income seniors over 65 who are residents of the state. The plan is that between 30,000 and 40,000 older adults can have access to medical care as of January 2021.
This will mean expanding the state health program for the most vulnerable, Medi-Cal to cover the elderly.
“This investment will make the state move towards the universal health coverage, which will boost the cost containment goals of the state, ”said the governor in his budget proposal.
During your visit to this newspaper last October, the governor of California endorsed his commitment to give undocumented elderly health insurance this year.
In 2019, Newsom expanded the Medi-Cal for around 138,000 undocumented youth from 19 to 25 years old. Behind the announcement is Los Angeles Senator María Elena Durazo who has been encouraging older adults to have access to primary health care.
“This was started by the commissioner of Insurance, Ricardo Lara three years ago when he was a senator, and he managed to provide health coverage to minors up to 18 years; last year we got it included until age 26; and now we are going to support our grandparents and parents over 65 so that no one is treated differently and discriminated against, ”said Senator Durazo, who took into her hands the struggle started by then Senator Lara when she arrived at the Senate.
“It is a great victory. We did it! We will be giving medical care to the most vulnerable community for whom it is more difficult to work, and if they do, the employer does not give it to them, ”he explained.
Senator Durazo said that the cost of extending the Medi-Cal to cover adults over 65 will be $ 90 million, which will be drawn from the General Budget Fund.
“It will start from January 2021. We have the promise of the governor. Last year, we achieved that the SB 29 measure to cover adults over 65 was approved by the Senate, and when I was about to go to the Assembly, the governor asked us to wait for this year to give us his support, and he is doing so, ”explained the Los Angeles legislator. “And we will continue, fighting for everyone in California to have access to health, including the undocumented from the age of 26 to 65,” he said.
Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara commented that expanding Medi-Cal for undocumented elders will bring them dignity because, he said, they have helped build California’s economy for decades, and still do.
“Many of our elders have died too early because they postpone care for cancer and other diseases by not having to pay for care, or they are diagnosed too late,” he said.
Alongside this good news, the administration of Governor Newsom plans to launch the new CalRx generic drug program to make California the first state to create its own label, and make prescription generic drugs available for sale to all Californians.
The governor’s budget aims to convert Medi-Cal into a less complex health system, increase flexibility and establish a single market for drug prices in the state.
Undocumented applaud proposal
To Francisco Leyva, who is about 65 years old and has no papers or health insurance, the proposal of Governor Gavin Newsom to cover the elderly through the expansion of the Medi-Cal, seemed very good.
“Although they had to give it since the age of 60. Many undocumented people no longer reach 65 because they do not have medical care in time for their illnesses. By age 65 they are deads, ”he said.
Immigrant from Sonora, Mexico for more than 30 years, Francisco observed that in Los Angeles, low-income undocumented people like him do not fight for medical care.
“We have emergency Medi-Cal, but if we need treatment they also continue to treat us,” he said.
Francisco from the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, was sent to a clinic related to this hospital, where every three months, he had medical checkups.
“I pay absolutely nothing. Neither by the consultation nor the medications; and if I need it, they send me to the specialist, ”says Francisco, who suffers from waist problems and is forced to rely on a walking stick.
“You just have to prove that you are a low-income immigrant. They don’t ask you about your immigration status, ”he observed.
However, he said he does not know if that treatment towards the immigrant is only in Los Angeles and in the big cities of California. “The truth is that many undocumented people do not dare to seek medical attention due to ignorance, ignorance or fear. They go to emergency services when they are already very bad, or have no choice, ”he observed.
Investments and challenges
The budget presented by Newsom aims to make investments in the future of the state while addressing the challenges of the state.
“While 2020 finds California with the strongest economy in the nation and the fifth largest in the world, we are eliminating debts, paying pensions, increasing the reserve, and one in seven new jobs are here,” Governor Newsom said. .
However, he said California faces problems that threaten the future of the state and demand urgent attention. This is the widespread crisis due to lack of access, homelessness and catastrophic fires.
“More than ever, California contemplates investments in this budget to address these problems,” he said.
Regarding the special fund for bad economic times that also addresses emergencies and other unexpected events, the budget plan projects that the reserve will reach 18 billion dollars. In total, the spending plan has a reserve of 21 billion dollars.
It also authorizes 500 million annually for a program of tax incentives for housing and the development of houses on state land. It also allocates $ 331 million to legal aid agencies that represent homeowners and renters in housing-related matters.
As for helplessness, proposes more than one billion dollars to provide a ceiling to the largest possible number of homeless people living in California by launching the Housing Services and Access Fund with an initial investment of 750 million dollars.
In response to disaster emergencies, toGrease one billion dollars to strengthen response capacity, primarily to have new firefighters in the Department of Fire and Forest Protection during the peak season.
A very meaningful issue for Governor Newsom has to do with preschool. Your budget plan includes 10,000 additional full-time places for preschoolers, with a view to making preschool universal for all children under four, regardless of their parents’ income. It also increases workers’ licenses to six to eight weeks when they become parents.
He has also proposed to create the Department of Early Childhood under the Agency for Human and Health Services as of July 2021.
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