It Will Cost California $98 Million a Year to Give Medicaid to Illegals

California, for some reason, is desperately trying to position itself as THE state for illegal aliens. Over the past couple of years, they have spearheaded initiatives to give driver’s licenses to illegals, they have sued the Trump administration over and over again to block his border policies, and they have engineered a statewide sanctuary law that forbids law enforcement officials from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Now, in the latest escalating move to care and clothe people who don’t belong in this country, they want to extend free health care to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants.

This week, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democrats who run the state legislature came to an agreement that would offer California’s state-run Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, to illegal immigrants between the ages of 19 and 25. While the deal’s price tag will be buried in a $213 billion budget avalanche, state officials say the benefits for illegals alone will cost California taxpayers a whopping $98 million a year. The plan is scheduled to go into effect in January of next year.

Even with the absurdity of providing free healthcare to people who should rightly be deported, and even with that exorbitant cost falling on citizens, activists are still whining about the limitations of the new law.

“While it’s not all we sought, it will provide a real tangible difference for people, especially for those around and below poverty and for middle income families who don’t get any help under the federal law,” Anthony Wright of the activist group Health Access said.

Some critics of the deal say that if California is going to pay the tab by taxing individuals without health insurance, they should at least expand the program to cover all young adults between the ages of 19 and 25. Newsom balked at that idea, however, saying it would cost in excess of $3 billion to expand Medi-Cal to that extent.

In other words, if you’re a struggling illegal alien in California, you can count on the taxpayers to pick up your health insurance bill. If you’re just a random citizen, however, you’re fresh out of luck. Liberalism!

Ain’t it great?