California will become the first state to guarantee free health care for all low-income immigrants living in the country illegally, a move that will provide coverage for an additional 764,000 people at an eventual cost of about $2.7 billion a year.
It's part of a $307.9 billion operating budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom was expected to sign Thursday. It pledges to make low-income adults eligible for the state's Medicaid program by 2024, regardless of their immigration status. It’s a long-sought victory for health care and immigration activists, who have been asking for the change for more than a decade.
