Despite facing a massive budget deficit, California has become the first state in the United States to provide free health insurance to undocumented immigrants under a new law that took effect earlier this year. However, a recent federal audit has revealed that California inappropriately claimed $52.7 million in federal healthcare assistance for undocumented immigrants.
The audit report, released in May by the Office of the Inspector-General of the Department of Health and Human Services, highlighted that California’s healthcare assistance program used inaccurate reimbursement methods when assessing resources provided to ineligible non-citizens.
Through these inaccurate methods, California obtained tens of millions of dollars in improper healthcare assistance funds, which were used to provide medical services to undocumented immigrants.
According to regulations, aside from treatment for emergency medical conditions, states generally cannot request federal funds to provide healthcare assistance services to certain ineligible immigrant statuses, usually requiring the use of state funds. However, California expanded the coverage of its health insurance program to include these undocumented individuals, exceeding the limited scope of federal healthcare assistance benefits.
The OIG office stated in a release, “California improperly claimed $52.7 million in federal healthcare assistance reimbursements because California continued to use the per capita payment percentage established in the early 2000s without evaluating whether this percentage accurately reflects the costs of providing non-emergency services to non-eligible non-citizens under managed care services.”
The OIG also noted that California did not comply with federal agreements in evaluating and subsequently monitoring the per capita percentage. Therefore, OIG recommended that California: (1) repay the $52.7 million in grants to the federal government; (2) collaborate with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to identify the improper application amounts not covered in the audit.
Faced with this audit outcome, California generally agreed with OIG’s recommendations, particularly the first recommendation, to which California had no objection.
Since implementing sanctuary state policies, a large number of undocumented immigrants have been pouring into California annually, leading to an escalating border crisis. Local residents in California have increasingly felt the pressure from this growing influx.
Studies have shown that by 2023, the cost to California taxpayers of providing benefits to certain age groups of undocumented immigrants reached nearly $31 billion. As the number of undocumented immigrants continues to rise, California’s annual expenses on undocumented immigrants also increase.
At the beginning of this year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law that allows undocumented immigrants in California to access full health insurance benefits through the state-provided Medi-Cal card, with an estimated 700,000 undocumented immigrants expected to benefit, resulting in an additional annual cost to taxpayers of $3 billion to $6 billion.
Newsom emphasized that this initiative is aimed at enhancing the overall healthcare system for all Californians. Prior to the implementation of this law, non-citizens and green card holders were not eligible for full Medi-Cal insurance benefits, but they could still receive coverage for emergency and pregnancy-related services.
Several healthcare professionals in California previously told the English-language Epoch Times that the influx of undocumented immigrants has caused “a significant impact on the entire healthcare system.” Meeting the healthcare needs of undocumented immigrants often leads to American patients having their scheduled appointments delayed.
Translator: Your Friendly News Reporter