The state faced a deficit of more than $10 billion last year before it decided to roll back health insurance access for undocumented adults \u2014 which California had been expanding for several years \u2014 to help it pass a balanced 2025-2026 budget<\/a>. California is again looking at a deficit of close to $3 billion<\/a> as it looks to pass next year\u2019s budget this summer.<\/p>\n But Arambula, who was previously an emergency room physician, says restricting health insurance access will be more costly to the state in the long run because people will still seek emergency care in hospitals after foregoing preventive care they cannot afford.<\/p>\n \u201cThe cost of that healthcare is much more expensive than what we\u2019re proposing through SB 1422,\u201d he said in a statement to The Fresno Bee. \u201cFreezing enrollment may look like a budget solution, but it only shifts costs and escalates the financial problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill is one of several recently introduced in California\u2019s Legislature intending to protect Medi-Cal access following approval last summer by the U.S. Congress of the Trump administration\u2019s H.R. 1, known as \u201cThe One Big Beautiful Bill Act,\u201d which included cuts to the federal Medicaid program totaling nearly $1 trillion. Medicaid provides money for low income public health insurance programs in each state, including California\u2019s Medi-Cal.<\/p>\n Healthcare experts have warned the cuts could be especially devastating in the San Joaquin Valley<\/a>, where about half the population was covered by Medi-Cal in 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re talking about the Central Valley and Fresno, those areas proudly feed the rest of the U.S.,\u201d said Dr. Seciah Aquino, executive director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about farmworker communities, communities who need and deserve access to Medi-Cal.\u201d<\/p>\n The Medi-Cal enrollment freeze<\/a> that began Jan. 1 prevents the addition of new undocumented beneficiaries aged 19 or older. Those who were previously enrolled can retain their coverage but will have to pay $30 per month beginning July 1, 2027, if they are between the ages of 19-59. Undocumented children are still covered, as are pregnancy and emergency healthcare services.<\/p>\n The new bill\u2019s text, as of Wednesday, would make undocumented people ages 19 and older who financially qualify once again \u201celigible for the full scope of Medi-Cal benefits subject to certain limitations.\u201d Those between the ages of 19-59 would still have to pay a $30 monthly premium. Only emergency dental care would be covered for those who are 19 or older.<\/p>\n The bill is co-sponsored by 20 democratic California legislators, including Fresno-area State Sen. Anna Caballero.<\/p>\n Adocates say Medi-Cal cuts risk lives, local healthcare systems<\/p>\n Arambula said he believes restoring Medi-Cal enrollment for undocumented people is the fiscally responsible and \u201cright thing to do\u201d because of what he saw during his decade as an emergency room doctor in Fresno County. He said \u201ctoo many\u201d people with no health insurance would seek emergency room care as \u201ca last act of desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTheir ailments could have been stopped or treated earlier,\u201d Arambula said. \u201cInstead, we tried our best to help patients whose health had deteriorated into chronic or life-threatening situations \u2014 and too often we couldn\u2019t save them.\u201d<\/p>\n Studies say California<\/a> already spends about $3.5 billion annually on preventable emergency medical treatment. Aquino, of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, said the costs of higher emergency room attendance are often \u201cpunted to a different part of the system,\u201d oftentimes county governments.<\/p>\n She said California is \u201cshooting itself in the foot\u201d by cutting access to health insurance for immigrants \u2014 a large percentage of them from the Latino and indigenous communities who work and pay taxes despite being undocumented. A study<\/a> from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy showed undocumented people paid $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2022.<\/p>\n Said Aquino: \u201cWe provide industry folks with so many tax breaks, yet we are willing to let the most vulnerable bear the brunt of that economic burden.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n Dr. Joaquin Arambula, center, is seen at Moto Delicatessan and Bodega on Election Night, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Fresno. Arambula, a Fresno Democrat, is a state Assembly member representing the 31st Assembly District. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com What\u2019s in CA legislators\u2019 proposed Medical Access Restoration Act?<\/p>\n
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