This month, multiple outlets reported that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a $2.8 Billion dollar bill intended to help the state’s medicaid program. According to ABC 3340, this program “ran into major financial problems when the Governor expanded it last year to include illegal immigrants.”
How do California voters feel about illegal aliens receiving taxpayer-funded health services? A new poll has answers.
According to a new poll conducted by the University of California, Berkeley and POLITICO, a slim majority of California voters support the state covering health care for illegal aliens in the state.
In the findings, 21 percent of voters believe that California should continue to offer Medicaid to undocumented immigrants, even if it means the state is forced to make cuts elsewhere.
Another 32 percent of respondents said the state should continue the program but prioritize people in the country legally if budget cuts are necessary.
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On the contrary, 31 percent of respondents said that the state should have never allowed its Medicaid program to cover illegal aliens, especially working-age adults.
Seventeen percent of respondents said that the state should partially or fully reverse this health coverage.
Broken down by political party, Democrats support covering healthcare for illegal aliens more than Republicans (via POLITICO):
The survey findings also show major differences between general voters and a separate group of policy influencers that was polled. The influencer group was far more likely to support the undocumented program, with 31 percent saying it should be continued even if it meant cuts elsewhere, and 45 percent supporting the program but wanting to prioritize people in the country legally if budget cuts were needed
Only 11 percent said the state should have never expanded Medicaid to undocumented residents — 20 percentage points less than the general voting population.
Among the voters, there were further divides between different demographic groups. Democrats were the most likely to support the program (77 percent generally favorable, though some with conditions) compared to Republicans — 58 percent of whom said Medicaid should never have covered the undocumented population.
“There’s broad support for the state’s Medicaid program for undocumented immigrants,” Jack Citrin, a UC Berkeley political science professor, told POLITICO, adding, though, that there was some “nuance.”
“I think there will be resistance among the state government to cutting Medicaid, but if they have to, presumably they might start changing which undocumented get access, maybe limiting it to children and elderly people, rather than everyone, … tinkering with that.”
