In January, Marisol Pantoja Toribio discovered a lump in her shoulder. The typically happy-go-lucky 43-year-old quickly realized how few options were available to her because she was unemployed and residing in California without legal reputation and without her household.
” I said,’ What am I going to do?'” she said in Spanish, fast getting emotional. She became concerned about developing cancers right away. ” I went back and forth — I have ]cancer], I do n’t have it, I have it, I do n’t have it”. And if she was sick, she added, she would n’t be able to work or pay her rent. Without health insurance, Pantoja Toribio could n’t afford to find out if she had a serious condition.
Beginning this season,  , Medi- Cal, California’s Medicaid system, expanded to encompass immigrants lacking constitutional citizenship, timing that could have worked out perfectly for Pantoja Toribio, who has lived in the Bay Area city of Brentwood for three years. But her app for Medi- Cal was immediately rejected: As a farmhand earning$ 16 an hour, her yearly income of around$ 24, 000 was very high to qualify for the program.
Despite its immigration position, California is the first position to offer Medicaid to all eligible people, a success that both political leaders and health advocates in the position enjoy. However, many immigrants without lasting legal status, particularly those who reside in areas of California with the highest living costs, make a significant amount of money to qualify for Medi-Cal.
Federal law forbids those it calls “undocumented” from receiving plan grants or other benefits under the Affordable Care Act, leaving many people employed but without a feasible health coverage option. However, the state foots the bill for the Medi-Cal growth.
Now, the same health advocates who fought for the , Medi- Cal expansion , say the next step in achieving health equity is expanding Covered California, the state’s ACA marketplace, to all immigrant adults by passing AB 4.
Some people in this state are the backbone of so many of our economy’s sectors, contribute their labor, and even pay taxes, but they are not, according to Sarah Dar, policy director at the California Immigrant Policy Center, one of two groups that is the bill’s sponsor, dubbed # Health4All.
To qualify for Medi- Cal, an individual cannot earn more than 138 % of the federal poverty level, which currently amounts to nearly$ 21, 000 a year for a single person. A family of three would need to earn less than$ 35, 632 a year.
For people above those thresholds, the Covered California marketplace offers various health plans, often with federal and state subsidies, yielding premiums as low as$ 10 a month. The goal is to introduce a “mirror marketplace” on the Covered California website, which supporters claim would allow all immigrants to receive the same health insurance benefits that the state would only provide for them.
The state faces a projected budget deficit of anywhere between$ 38 billion and$ 73 billion despite a Democratic supermajority in the legislature. Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders announced a ,$ 17 billion package , to start reducing the gap, but significant spending cuts appear inevitable.
Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula, a Fresno Democrat who introduced the bill, said it’s unclear how much it would cost to expand Covered California to all immigrants.
According to the immigrant policy center, setting up the marketplace would cost at least$ 15 million. If the bill passes, sponsors would then need to secure funding for the subsidies, which could run into the billions of dollars annually.
” It is a tough time to be asking for new expenditures”, Dar said. The initial cost of the mirror marketplace is “relatively inexpensive.” So we’re hopeful that it’s still within the realm of possibility”.
Arambula expressed optimism that the state will continue to lead in improving access for people without legal residency who lack legal residency.
He said,” I think we will keep standing as we work together to make this California for all.”
The bill passed the Assembly last July on a 64- 9 vote and now awaits action by the Senate Appropriations Committee, Arambula’s office said.
According to the labor research center at the University of California- Berkeley, an estimated 520, 000 Californians would be eligible for a Covered California plan if they did not have legal status. Pantoja Toribio, who emigrated alone from Mexico after leaving an abusive relationship, said she was lucky. When she visited a food pantry in Contra Costa County on a weekly basis to find out if she might qualify for a plan for low-income people through Kaiser Permanente, she was given information about alternative health care options.
Pantoja Toribio applied just before the January 1st, the end of the open enrollment period. Through the plan, she learned that the lump in her breast was not cancerous.
” God heard me”, she said. ” Thank God”.
___
© 2024 KFF Health News.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
