California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been steadily tacking proper in what many see as a bid to courtroom centrist voters forward of a probable 2028 presidential run, now desires to finish new enrollment for low-income undocumented immigrants within the state’s Medi-Cal medical health insurance program beginning in January 2026. He additionally proposes that starting in 2027, these already enrolled within the largely free program must begin paying $100 a month.
Newsom is pitching it as fiscal prudence—a transfer that’s needed to assist shut California’s gaping price range deficit. However in doing so, he’s gutting a coverage he as soon as hailed as a cornerstone of his progressive legacy: free well being look after all Californians, no matter immigration standing. The hassle simply expanded statewide in January 2024. Now, he’s yanking it again.
Associated |What the hell is Gavin Newsom making an attempt to do?
The proposed change would save the state $5.4 billion by 2028, in line with Newsom’s workplace, a part of a broader plan to chip away at a $16 billion deficit brought on by a turbulent economic system and higher-than-projected prices. However it additionally undercuts what he claimed to be an ethical dedication: that well being care is a human proper, interval. As an alternative, he’s making the identical chilly calculations that conservatives have pushed for years, handing them a win and gutting a pillar of his personal progressive model.
Beneath the proposal, adults over age 19 can be barred from signing up, although youngsters and teenagers might nonetheless qualify. Newsom’s workplace insists nobody will likely be “kicked off” Medi-Cal—however these already enrolled can be hit with month-to-month premiums. Emergency and pregnancy-related care would nonetheless be coated by way of limited-scope federal applications. However with out shopping for in, undocumented Californians would lose entry to primary protection like physician visits and prescribed drugs.
It’s a jarring reversal—however not an unpredictable one, as Newsom has been distancing himself from his progressive picture for months. On his podcast, he’s parroted right-wing rhetoric round trans college students (suggesting Democrats went too far—they didn’t), sat down for a baffling chat with Steve Bannon, and just lately embarrassed himself by groveling to President Donald Trump for a $7.5 billion federal tax credit score for movies after Trump threatened Hollywood with large tariffs.
One minute he’s blaming “the Trump stoop” for the state’s monetary mess; the following, he’s making an attempt to make offers with him. It’s incoherent—and worse, it’s cowardly.
To be clear, Trump bears duty right here. His administration is utilizing federal strain to get blue states to chop advantages for undocumented individuals.
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem didn’t mince phrases on Tuesday when saying that her company is investigating California for allegedly “offering federal advantages to unlawful aliens.”
“If you’re an unlawful immigrant, it’s best to depart now. The gravy prepare is over,” she stated in a predictably dramatic assertion. However Newsom didn’t should play alongside.
He’s not simply undermining his legacy—he’s breaking together with his occasion. Politico reported that Democrats within the California Legislature have already stated they oppose the cuts. They, not Newsom, management the ultimate price range. And polling reveals Californians usually help masking undocumented immigrants.
An April Politico–UC Berkeley survey discovered 53% of voters nonetheless help protection for undocumented immigrants, together with 21% who stated the state ought to preserve providing it even when it means reducing elsewhere.
The concept that undocumented individuals must be denied primary care throughout a cost-of-living disaster is ugly sufficient coming from the fitting. Coming from Newsom, it’s a betrayal.
And it’s shortsighted. For years, Democrats argued that it’s each extra humane and cheaper to cowl undocumented residents reasonably than power them into emergency rooms for preventable and expensive situations. That logic didn’t change. However Newsom has.
What we’re seeing right here isn’t management: it’s positioning. Newsom is floating a check balloon for 2028. And if he thinks that is how he wins the middle, he ought to put together to lose the bottom he as soon as constructed his title on.
The California governor didn’t simply backtrack: He buckled. Trump lit the hearth, however Newsom helps to fan the flames.
