On Jan. 1, California will become the first state to offer health insurance to all undocumented adults by expanding access to the state-run insurance plan, Medi-Cal.

About 700,000 adults between ages 26 and 49 will be eligible as of Jan. 1

California will welcome the new year by becoming the first state to offer health insurance for all undocumented immigrants.

Starting Jan. 1, all undocumented immigrants, regardless of age, will qualify for Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program for people with low incomes.

Previously, undocumented immigrants were not qualified to receive comprehensive health insurance but were allowed to receive emergency and pregnancy-related services under Medi-Cal as long as they met eligibility requirements, including income limits and California residency in 2014.

  • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
    5·
    10 months ago

    It’s complicated and shitty, but people are treated the same for the most part, there’s no “fast pass” for having better insurance. Hospital and doctors offices are private. You can have private health issues, or if you qualify because you are poor or disabled you can get free health insurance from some states which then pays the hospital or doctor for your care. If you have your own private health insurance through a work group plan or you pay for yourself then you might have to pay a percentage of the total cost called a “copay” or you might have to pay the total cost until you have paid a yearly deductible and then you will only pay a percentage of the total cost until you reach an “out of pocket maximum” for the year which can range from a few thousand to ten thousand or more dollars.