California Residents Support Free Health Care for Illegal Immigrants
Recent “man on the street” interviews showed that many Californians support giving illegal immigrants free health care coverage.
The state’s Democrat gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom said during an interview last month he is “very proud” that while he was mayor of San Francisco, the city implemented this policy in a cost-effective way.
“[It was] fully implemented, regardless of pre-existing conditions, ability to pay, and regardless of your immigration status,” Newsom said on “Pod Save America.”
“We proved it could be done without bankrupting the city. I’d like to see that extended to the rest of the state,” he said.
A bill introduced in the spring in California’s Assembly would make illegal immigrants eligible for Medi-Cal, the state’s low income health care program, the Sacramento Bee reported.
“There are an estimated 1.8 million undocumented adult immigrants in California who are uninsured. Roughly 1.2 million of them are low-income and thus would qualify for Medi-Cal,” according to the news outlet.
Prager University’s Will Witt interviewed several Californians at Manhattan Beach near Los Angeles to see what they thought.
“I found that most people believe in a utopia,” Witt explained on “Fox & Friends” over the weekend. “We know as more conservative people, utopias don’t exist.”
“This is kind of the trend in California,” he observed “Free universal health care is just free, and it’s just the government paying for it, but they don’t understand it’s a burden on the taxpayers.”
One woman Witt interviewed said, “I don’t see a problem with everyone getting higher income and having more taxes.”
Another two people he spoke with agreed there should be health care for all and that illegal aliens pay as high of taxes as American citizens.
Even a man wearing a shirt with the phrase “Earned Not Given” on it said “I think everyone should get free universal health care.”
“It’s crazy that people think this,” Witt argued. “California already has such a burden on our taxpayers, and this plan is supposed to cost about $400 billion.”
“I mean business owners are fleeing California because of the high taxes,” he said. “This is only another step in the destruction of California.”
Politifact reported that California has the highest top tier income tax rate in the nation at 13.3 percent.
California also has the most costly sales tax in the nation at 7.25 percent.
Additionally, the state’s gas tax is the second highest in the nation, averaging 73 cents per gallon, second only to Pennsylvania at 77 cents, and well above the nation average of 52 cents, according to the Pasadena Star-News.
CNBC reported in March that Californians are leaving the Golden State in large numbers due to the high cost of housing and steep taxes.
According to CNBC during the 12-month period from July 2016 to July 2017, “California saw a net loss of just over 138,000 people, while Texas had a net increase of more than 79,000 people. Arizona gained more than 63,000 residents, and Nevada gained more than 38,000.”
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