Tag: budget deficit

California’s Free Medi-Cal to Cover Illegal Immigrants amid Healthcare Shortage

The Center Square
Doctor and Patient

Beginning January 1, illegal immigrants will be able to qualify for and use Medi-Cal, California’s taxpayer-funded free and low-cost healthcare plan for low-income residents. Experts warn that the state is already facing a healthcare shortage as a new $25 healthcare minimum wage threatens to reduce staffing levels — and doctors who accept Medi-Cal’s low reimbursement rate — even further. 

By expanding Medi-Cal eligibility to illegal immigrants between the ages of 26 and 49 under SB 184, an omnibus spending bill, California will add an estimated 700,000 users to the Medi-Cal system at a cost of $2.7 billion per year. 

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Gavin Newsom’s California Has a $68 Billion Budget Deficit

Admin

California’s budget deficit has nearly tripled since last year, culminating in the largest revenue discrepancy the state has ever seen, according to a report from the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO).

The state’s budget deficit ballooned to $68 billion this year after recording a deficit of $24 billion last year, owing to an unprecedented tax-revenue shortfall, according to the LAO report. The deficit is the highest in dollar terms that the state has ever seen, but not as a percentage of overall spending, according to Politico.

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Republicans Move to Suspend Walz’s Six-Figure Salary Until Shutdown Ends

Anthony Gockowski

A Republican lawmaker put forward an amendment Thursday that would suspend Gov. Tim Walz’s salary during the course of his peacetime emergency declaration.

The move is the latest escalation in a battle between Republican and Democratic lawmakers over the best course of action in addressing the coronavirus pandemic. House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) announced last weekend that he would block a public works bill from being passed until Walz agreed to relinquish his emergency powers.

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