Governor Brown at KPCC.; Credit: Mae Ryan/KPCC
Now that President Obama has announced his executive orders on immigration, California Governor Jerry Brown is considering expanding Medi-cal benefits to those who have been temporarily shielded from deportation.
Those under the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) programs have certain rights under the law, yet these rights range from state to state as the federal-state interaction falls under multiple jurisdictions. In the specific case of Medicaid, the entitlement is a federal program that is provided through states (California’s Medicaid program is called, “Medi-Cal”). Once the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) regulations regarding DACA and DAPA are finalized, states can find ways to provide services to these recipients since they will be issued a Social Security Number (SSN).
California granted the original DACA population (from Obama's 2012 initiative) eligibility for Medi-Cal if they met the income requirements. In the President's latest move, he expanded DACA to include those under 31 who had been in the United States as of January 1, 2010 (previously, the cut-off date was June 2007). Governor Brown can utilize the flexibility accorded him by the dual federal-state system to provide Medi-Cal benefits to the rest of those whose deportation actions have been temporarily deferred and who otherwise meet the income requirements, a somewhat similar comparison being how his administration passed legislation allowing undocumented aliens from applying for driver’s licenses.
California added 2 million people to its Medi-Cal ranks in the last two years, and Brown’s action could add hundreds of thousands, if not over a million, more if he pushes for legislation. For now, as the federal government finalizes the regulations regarding the programs, Brown’s team is looking at the cost-impact new actions on this front could have on the Medi-Cal budget and the state of California.
What impact, financial and otherwise, would extending Medi-Cal benefits have for California residents? Would giving DACA and DAPA recipients Medi-Cal open the door for additional entitlements to be given to those whose deportations have been deferred?
Guests:
John Myers, Senior Editor of the California Politics and Government desk at KQED
Laurel Lucia, Policy Analyst at the UC Berkeley Labor Center
Steve Camarota, Director of Research for the Center for Immigration Studies