Plan to Limit Immigrant Health Care Could Harm California’s Economy
Why Limiting Health Care for Immigrants Might Backfire on California’s Bottom Line
The Department of Homeland Security’s proposed public charge rule, which would discourage enrollment in health safety net programs, would cost the state thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic output.
The rules would likely cost the California economy more than 17,000 jobs and $2.8 billion in lost economic output if just 35% of the Californians in immigrant families currently making use of these programs decide to not enroll,” said the study, which was done by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, UC Berkeley Labor Center and a nonprofit group, California Food Policy Advocates. The study said 6,200 of those lost jobs and $992 million of that lost output would be in the Los Angeles area.
