California becomes first state to guarantee free health care to immigrants

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California has become the first state to guarantee free health care to all low-income immigrants.

Set to be in place by 2024, it's part of Governor Newsom's Medicaid program, which pledges to make all low-income adults eligible for health care.

Nationwide, low-income families get free health care through Medicaid, but the government doesn't pay for people who are living in the country illegally.

The move will cost about $2.7 billion per year.

Previous expansions of California’s Medicaid system have taken six months to a year to implement. But the Newsom administration says it needs a year and a half to complete this expansion because it is so much larger than the previous ones.

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