Will Adding Undocumented Adults To Medi-Cal Hurt An Already Overburdened System?

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — California is now the first state to offer health care to undocumented immigrants.

Low-income young adults between 19-25 years old will now be eligible for medical, regardless of immigration status.

Many already on Medi-Cal complain about long wait times because there are so many patients and not enough doctors who accept the state coverage.

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A recent state audit found millions of kids didn't have adequate access to healthcare because of too few doctors. The state just announced a program intended to help by offering to pay off doctors' student loans if they agree to take more Medi-Cal patients.

CBS13 looked into the numbers to see how adding undocumented young adults may impact the doctor to patient ratio.

The department of health care services said they don't currently track how long people on Medi-Cal have to wait to get a doctor's appointment. But a 2017 report found there were only 39 primary care doctors for every 100,000 Medi-Cal patients. Right now there are an estimated 13 million Californians on Medi-Cal.

The new legislation is only expected to add about 90,000 more patients, so statistically speaking, that should not change the doctor to patient ratio. IT would still be 39 doctors for every 100,000 patients.

The governor did reject a plan to include undocumented adults over 65, saying that would be too expensive.

The approved plan is expected to cost $98 million in its first year.