AILSA CHANG, HOST:
A handful of states, including California, Minnesota and Illinois, offer access to health insurance to low-income immigrants regardless of age or legal status. That amounts to millions of people covered. Well, now leaders of some of those states, including prominent Democrats, are attempting to change course. This week, Governor Gavin Newsom suggested cuts to California's program while staring down a $12 billion deficit. And yesterday, Minnesota Democrats erupted in protest...
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: One Minnesota, right?
TIM WALZ: Get anything done and shut down...
CHANG: ...After former vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz proposed a rollback to his state's program.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WALZ: On the issue of Medicaid...
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: One Minnesota, right?
WALZ: ...That's exactly right. The cuts at...
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: One Minnesota, right?
WALZ: ...The federal level, specifically dealing with Medicaid...
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Trump kills immigrants.
CHANG: We are joined now by two reporters following the story where they are, Laura Fitzgerald at CapRadio in Sacramento and Dana Ferguson at Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul. Hello to both of you.
DANA FERGUSON, BYLINE: Hello.
LAURA FITZGERALD, BYLINE: Hello. Thanks for having us.
CHANG: So let's start with you, Dana. Obviously, there are some people with very strong feelings about this in Minnesota, given those very loud protests yesterday. To the extent that you can understand, why are these states reversing course on these programs, you think?
FERGUSON: Yeah. There are a couple factors at play here. The first is state budgets. States are in a tough place financially. Revenues in many places were already down, and Congress is eyeing big cuts to states as they negotiate spending. So leaders just don't have a lot of wiggle room. The other thing is considered sort of the elephant in the room, and that's that Republicans in Congress are proposing additional cuts directed at states that provide health care to people without legal status, so Minnesota could face financial penalties.
CHANG: Right. But are Democrats in Minnesota even saying this is about getting ahead of those kinds of federal penalties?
FERGUSON: No. Walz and legislative leaders say that wasn't a factor. We have a really unique situation right now where our legislature is just about split down the middle, 101 Democrats and a hundred Republicans, so there had to be bipartisan compromise. The proposal in Minnesota right now says kids can stay in the program, but Republicans here wanted to eliminate the health care program entirely - that would mean everyone without legal status - citing concerns about higher-than-expected enrollment and costs. There are about 20,000 people enrolled now, and 3,000 of those are kids. Governor Walz talked about how tough this deal was at the news conference where lawmakers protested outside.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WALZ: I'm not going to sugarcoat how difficult this was. Then these lawmakers are there. They have their voice heard. We'll vote on this. We didn't expect everybody to be happy in this. I think many of us compromised.
FERGUSON: And I should note, it still needs to get voted on by the legislature. It's not a sure thing yet.
CHANG: OK. Well, Laura, let's go to you in California because Governor Newsom came out just Wednesday and announced a $12 billion deficit in this state and cuts to this program. What's been the reaction since then?
FITZGERALD: Yeah. Well, Democratic lawmakers out here aren't having quite the reaction that they did in Minnesota, at least not yet. Some members of the legislature's Latino Caucus are pushing back on the freeze and say the state should look for other areas to cut. The program out here would stop enrolling new immigrants without legal status in January next year and would also begin charging a $100-a-month fee for each individual. But also like Minnesota, kids could stay on Medi-Cal. That's what we call Medicaid. Republicans are actually using those details against Newsom. They're saying that his budget proposal actually allows the state to keep spending on coverage for these individuals by allowing them to enroll through the end of the year. Republican Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher had this to say.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JAMES GALLAGHER: And the governor showed his priorities yesterday. He wants to continue to spend on health care for illegal immigrants - billions and billions of dollars.
CHANG: I mean, Laura, we are talking about a lot of immigrants in the state on this program, right? So what could this mean for healthcare overall in California?
FITZGERALD: It's not exactly clear how many folks will end up leaving the program, for instance, if the $100 copay ends up being cost-prohibitive for them. But Newsom says he thinks these rollbacks will lead to around $86 million in savings this year, and that'll grow to about $3.3 billion in savings moving forward. We do know that 1.6 million people signed up for Medi-Cal under the expansion to those without legal status, and that's more than the state expected. Some experts and lawmakers, including Newsom - they've pointed out that the state ends up paying for coverage either way because those without health insurance end up seeking care in emergency rooms. So some lawmakers and advocates, mainly hospitals and immigrant rights advocates - they pushed for this expansion to increase access to regular care for this community, like doctors' visits and prescription medications.
CHANG: That is Laura Fitzgerald at CapRadio in Sacramento and Dana Ferguson at Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul. Thank you to both of you.
FERGUSON: You're welcome.
FITZGERALD: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
