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San Bernardino County Live News

Health coverage expanded to undocumented immigrants

A state panel expanded health care coverage Thursday for undocumented immigrants and other low-income residents of 35 rural counties, including Yolo and El Dorado counties in the Sacramento region. The move by the County Medical Services Program board promises to fill in health access gaps for people who don’t qualify for low-income health coverage through Medi-Cal or for private insurance under the state’s health exchange, Covered California. Many of those people are undocumented immigrant adults who have only had access to emergency care. The program’s expansion would add several doctor visits and about $1,000 of prescription drugs to the list of services available to undocumented immigrants and to legal residents who meet eligibility criteria but don’t qualify for other aid programs. The board approved a half dozen other program expansions, including raising the income eligibility limit for both legal and illegal residents to 300 percent of the federal poverty level, which is less than $12,000 for an individual. All told, the changes are expected to cost $6 million to $9 million over the next two fiscal years and may start as early as 2016, program officials said. The Public Policy Institute of California think tank estimates the state is home to about 2.7 million undocumented immigrants, with more than half that population living in Los Angeles, Orange County, the Bay Area and other large urban areas. On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a state budget bill that expands low-income state Medi-Cal coverage to all income-eligible children regardless of immigration status starting in May 2016.


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