SACRAMENTO, CA – Health and consumer advocates today expressed deep disappointment with the California State Assembly’s 2026–27 budget plan for health, released this morning, which largely embraces the most damaging health care rollbacks proposed earlier this year by Governor Newsom and falls hardest on immigrant communities. Rather than rejecting the harmful proposals to scale back […] The post Assembly Budget Throws Immigrants Under the Bus, Doubles Down on Harmful Health Care Cuts appeared first on Health Access.
SACRAMENTO, CA – Health and consumer advocates today expressed deep disappointment with the California State Assembly’s 2026–27 budget plan for health, released this morning, which largely embraces the most damaging health care rollbacks proposed earlier this year by Governor Newsom and falls hardest on immigrant communities.
Rather than rejecting the harmful proposals to scale back coverage as the State Senate did in its budget proposal last month, the Assembly plan mostly adopts the Governor’s problematic proposal, leaving immigrant families, refugees, low-income seniors, and people with disabilities to bear the cost. Advocates called the plan a missed opportunity that inflicts real harm on Californians without any fiscal or policy rationale to justify it.
“There is no fiscal or moral justification for stripping health coverage away from people who are already here, already part of our communities, and already contributing to our state,” said Christine Smith, Policy & Legislative Advocate of Health Access California. “Lawmakers have a chance to protect Californians, and instead they are choosing to inflict needless harm. There is still time to do the right thing – and the Assembly and the Governor should take it.”
The Assembly plan would:
- Strip comprehensive coverage from humanitarian immigrants, including asylees, refugees, and survivors of torture, trafficking, and domestic violence. The Assembly agrees only to the Governor’s proposed delay to allow time for system updates to effectuate this elimination of coverage.
- Do nothing to protect dental coverage. There is no delay in eliminating dental coverage for immigrants with varying status, meaning the cut moves ahead and patients lose access to basic oral health care beginning July 1.
- Impose new premiums on lawfully present and undocumented immigrants. The budget adopts a monthly premium of up to $50 per month for lawfully present and undocumented adults enrolled in Medi-Cal, a charge that will price working families out of the coverage they rely on.
- Reinstate the Medi-Cal asset test. The plan delays the asset test but still ultimately reduces the asset limit back down to $2,000, forcing low-income seniors and people with disabilities to spend down their modest savings to qualify for care.
- Leave the enrollment freeze in place. The budget takes no action to reverse the freeze on new Medi-Cal enrollment for undocumented adults, slamming the door on Californians who become eligible going forward.
- Leave new work requirements untouched. The plan takes no action to stop state-imposed work reporting requirements for state-funded immigrant populations in Medi-Cal that will create paperwork barriers and push eligible people off coverage.
This is counter to the updated State Senate budget plan announced last week which rejected the worst of these cuts. Advocates urge the adoption of the Senate plan as lawmakers head into final budget negotiations.
So much harm, with no reason
“These cuts inflict significant, lasting harm on communities statewide without producing any offsetting benefit that justifies their scope,” said Josh Stehlik, Policy Director of the California Immigrant Policy Center. “Taking coverage away does not improve health outcomes or reduce long-term costs to the state – it redirects those costs to emergency rooms, county systems, and families least able to absorb them.”
“Immigrants shouldn’t be thrown under the bus, not now and not ever. Californians did not send their representatives to Sacramento to make people sicker and poorer,” said Kiran Savage-Sangwan, Executive Director of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. “The Legislature can still get this right by rejecting these cuts in the final budget. On Thursday, we’ll be in front of Assembly district offices urging our elected representatives to stand with Californians, not with bigots like Stephen Miller who are waging a campaign of hate and methodically stripping health care, child care, and housing from immigrant families in order to make life unlivable.”
“The Assembly’s silence on restoring Medi-Cal cuts in the state budget is unacceptable,” said Mar Velez, Director of Policy for the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California. “The Senate has stepped up to reduce harm by proposing to delay Medi-Cal cuts, especially as legislative vehicles like SB 1422 to undo the freeze are not moving forward. Assembly leaders must now act with the same urgency. Inaction is not an option when thousands of Californians are at risk of losing life-saving care.”
Communities mobilizing: Health4All + CPEHN bus tour Thursday
The fight to protect health coverage is moving across the state. This Thursday, the Health4All coalition and the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network (CPEHN) will host a statewide bus tour bringing together patients, advocates, and community leaders to call on the Legislature to reject these harmful cuts and stand with California’s immigrant and underserved communities. Details can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSerJ1GPYzlRDBKUlY42fsDM5cNReIA9JEzqSeFIRZ7THS17AA/viewform
The Health4All Coalition, Health Access California, California Immigrant Policy Center, California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, and coalition partners are available to provide background, policy analysis, budget context, and expert commentary to reporters covering the May Revise and California health care budget negotiations.
About the Health4All Coalition
The Health4All Coalition is a statewide coalition of health, immigrant rights, labor, and community organizations working to ensure all Californians have access to affordable, comprehensive health coverage regardless of immigration status.
Media Contact:
Rachel Linn Gish, Health Access California, [email protected]
The post Assembly Budget Throws Immigrants Under the Bus, Doubles Down on Harmful Health Care Cuts appeared first on Health Access.
