Philp: Will Newsom keep health coverage for immigrants in California?

In California, an estimated 1.8 million residents, or about 5% of the population, are immigrants without legal permission to live in the country. They perform many jobs native residents would never do. The financial challenge facing Sacramento is that these immigrants also comprise nearly a quarter of the state general fund cost of health care via California’s program for low-income residents, Medi-Cal.

The state has made steady progress over the last nine years to provide Medi-Cal coverage to more and more of this population.