(NewsNation) — Several states are expanding health coverage to more undocumented immigrants in the new year.
State data compiled by KFF Health News shows around a dozen states and the District of Columbia provide full health insurance coverage to over 1 million low-income immigrants, regardless of legal status. By 2025, KFF Health News reports, enrollment in these programs could nearly double.
Utah will begin offering a new Children’s Health Insurance Program benefit to non-citizen children on Jan. 1, 2024. Called State CHIP, children of working families are eligible if they do not already have health insurance and cannot qualify for other programs because of their citizenship status.
“The goal of State CHIP is to reduce confusion and fear that may keep the children of immigrant families from accessing critical medical, dental and mental health services,” Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services said on its website.
Under State CHIP, coverage includes immunizations; doctor visits; prescriptions; hearing and eye exams.
Meanwhile, also starting in January, a new law expands California’s health insurance program, Medi-Cal, to those ages 26 to 49. Previously, the state had only allowed undocumented immigrants over 50 years old, as well as children, to get Medi-Cal.
More than 700,000 people will now be eligible for it in the new year, KFMB-TV reports.
“This is a really major step in California,” Nedy Velazquez, border policy coordinator at Alliance San Diego, told the news outlet. “A lot of undocumented people and a lot of low-income people, because they don’t have access to these resources, they wait until the very end to to hopefully receive some care and by then it’s too late.”
However, University of California Berkley’s Labor Center points out that there will still be 520,000 uninsured undocumented residents who earn too much to get Medi-Cal who who also do not have employer coverage.
California Republicans opposed to the change in Medi-Cal say it would overload the state’s budget. Cal Matters writes that it is projected to cost more than $835 million in the next six months and $2.6 billion a year after.
In New York, there will be a new option for health insurance given to undocumented persons aged 65 and older if they fall below a certain income threshold. The state says this new insurance offers a more “comprehensive” benefit package that includes preventative and primary care; routine doctor visits, recommended screenings and prescription drugs.
Pew Research estimates put the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States at more than 10.5 million, though the organization notes this data is from 2021.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.