SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Governor Gavin Newsom’s revised budget proposal would grant $859 million to expand Medi-Cal coverage to undocumented seniors ages 60 and older.

If approved by the legislature, the governor’s plan would allow older undocumented immigrants to access preventative and primary care. 

Maria, a 75-year-old woman from Perris, says her immigration status has made it challenging to access healthcare. She was not comfortable providing her last name but shares she’s lived in the Inland Empire for the last 40 years and has feared going to the doctor because she’s undocumented.

“My feet hurt and I need medicine,” Maria added.

She recently recovered from COVID-19, but was unable to visit a hospital or receive treatment of any kind due to her legal status.

Over the last four decades, Maria says she’s experienced tremendous stress and sadness because of her lack of access to healthcare.

However, under Governor Newsom’s proposal, Maria and about 89,000 other elders would be covered under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid.

“The proposal we’re making is demonstrable, it’s real, it’s historic, and no other state in America has done what we’re proposing to do and I’m incredibly proud of the proposal we put out,” Newsom announced during his May Budget Revise press conference on Friday.

Now it’s up to state lawmakers to sign off on the governor’s plan, which is estimated to cost around a billion dollars per year.

Senator Maria Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, has been pushing to extend Medi-Cal to low-income undocumented seniors since she was first elected to the legislature in 2018.

“They pay taxes, $3 billion or more in taxes every year, so they should have it. We learned our lesson of the pandemic that more people should be insured,” she noted.

The Los Angeles legislator adds that with the state’s $76 billion surplus and the disproportionate impact the pandemic had on undocumented seniors, now is the right time to expand healthcare access.

“We know these men and women contributed and continue to contribute. So let's do the smart thing and the humane thing,” she said. “Let's cover all uninsured and let’s take the next step with our undocumented.”

Luz Gallegos, the executive director of TODEC, a community-based organization in the Inland Empire that advocates for immigrant issues, says the governor’s proposal is coming at the perfect time.

“With COVID, it’s been one after another. It’s an eternal mourning. One passes and another one and the common denominator is they don’t have healthcare or are scared to go to the ER because of their immigration status, so the life of one person — there’s no money signal to a life,” Galleos said.

As for Maria, she says it would be a blessing to finally be able to see the doctor and hopes to be eligible for Medi-Cal soon.

The California legislature is expected to approve a final spending plan by June 15.