RUSS REPORT-Senate Bill 1005, introduced on February 13, 2014 by State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-33) seeks to give illegal aliens access to the same healthcare afforded to Californians under the California Health Benefit Exchange. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) prohibits coverage under a qualified health plan for non-citizens and those in the US illegally.
But Lara, elected in 2012, believes tax dollars should be expended for those who do not qualify for full scope Medi-Cal and who would be eligible to purchase coverage through an exchange, but for their immigration status.
SB 1005 states, “The bill would require the board to provide premium subsidies and cost-sharing reductions to eligible individuals that are the same as the premium assistance and cost-sharing reductions the individuals would have received through the Exchange.”
“The purpose of the Health For All Act is simple – provide health care coverage to California’s remaining uninsured by expanding Medi-Cal and creating a new health exchange where the undocumented can purchase coverage,” said Lara. “While we’ve made enormous strides to reduce California’s uninsured population with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, we won’t have a truly healthy state until everyone has access to quality, affordable coverage.”
There are an estimated 2.3 million illegal aliens throughout the State. Lara estimates that only a million do not have healthcare coverage although many illegals get medical help through clinics and hospitals, while many receive housing subsidies, food stamps and other benefits.
But illegal aliens do pay some taxes. Though the amounts vary from state to state and are estimations at best, illegal aliens do pay property taxes if they own a home, sales tax on goods purchased and some pay income taxes as well. In 2007, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) noted that tax revenues generated from unauthorized immigrants for state and local governments do not offset the total cost of services provided to them.
The Medi-Cal program is partially governed and funded by Federal Medicaid Program provisions and prohibits payments to States for illegal aliens. California would pay the tab for the program to give illegal aliens healthcare coverage.
But where will the money come from? More taxes?
Californians are already taxed to the hilt and many programs for the states legal residents have been cut already because the State has no money. Adding a million or more people to the welfare doles would be cost prohibitive and could potentially lead to more program cuts down the road.
A new study by the California Public Policy Center estimates that every California household is on the hook already for more than $80,000.
CalWatchDog reports, “When, along with the $27.8 billion ‘Wall of Debt,’ long-term debt incurred by California’s state, county, and city governments, along with school districts, redevelopment agencies and special districts are totaled, the outstanding balance is $383 billion. The officially recognized unfunded liability for California’s public employee retirement benefits — pensions and retirement health care — adds another $265.1 billion. Applying a potentially more realistic 5.5% discount rate to calculate the unfunded pension liability adds an additional $200.3 billion. All of these outstanding debts combined total $848.4 billion. By extrapolating from available data that is either outdated or incomplete, and using a 4.5% discount rate to calculate the unfunded pension liability, the estimated total debt soars to over $1.1 trillion.”
Lara is joined by several organizations including SEIU California and Planned Parenthood. Coauthors of the Bill are Senators Block, Calderon, De León, Mitchell, Padilla, and Torres. Assembly Coauthors are Members Bocanegra, Bonta, Dickinson, Fong, Gonzalez, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, Pan, Rendon, and Yamada)
The full text of the bill can be seen here:
Let Senator Lara know what you think. After all, you, the taxpayer will be paying for it.
Capitol Office: 916-651-4033 Long Beach Office: 562-495-4766
(Katharine Russ is an investigative reporter. She is a regular contributor to CityWatch and works with the United States Justice Foundation in defense of Veterans. Katharine Russ can be reached at: [email protected])
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 15
Pub: Feb 21, 2014