As many as 830,000 non-citizen immigrants are residents of California. Nearly
one in five non-citizens, under the age of 65 in California, is covered by Medi-Cal.
Medi-Cal is an essential source of healthcare insurance for millions of
low-income, elderly, and disabled residents of California. “Despite its
anti-immigrant reputation, California has been among the most generous of the 50
states in providing public aid to needy non-citizens who lost benefits in the
1996 federal welfare overhaul.” Under current law, legal immigrants are
eligible for Medi-Cal if they meet income and other requirements established by
the state. Illegal immigrants may obtain Medi-Cal only for emergency medical
services and for prenatal care. “California, home to about one-third of the
nation’s immigrants, passed ballot initiatives in this decade targeting
illegal immigrants, health care, affirmative action, and bilingual education.”
Last year taxpayers spent more than one-hundred million dollars in aid and
benefits for immigrants. “Governor Gray Davis, in one of several early
attempts to reverse his republican predecessor’s policies, wants the state to
spend $60 million on prenatal care for poor pregnant women who are illegal
immigrants, money that former Governor Pete Wilson repeatedly fought to cut from
California’s bugdet.” “It is estimated that for every dollar the state
spends on health care for pregnant women, it saves $3.00 in health care costs
for infants who otherwise would be born with preventable maladies.” The loss
of this health coverage would primarily affect children and women by cutting
access to essential health services such as prenatal care and emergency rooms.
This would then result in higher medical costs (increased cost to taxpayers) due
to people delaying to seek medical attention and unnecessary hospitalizations.
“Those hurt most by restricting prenatal care, health advocates said, would be
United States born children, who are automatically citizens, regardless of their
mother’s immigration status. Prenatal care is an important tool for
discovering AIDS, tuberculosis and other diseases.” By eliminating health care
for non-citizen pregnant women, we are endangering the health and lives both the
mother and the child which is indeed a United States citizen.