What might have been a quick doctor’s visit for other parents turned into a strained discussion for the Gonzalez family. Was the elbow bleeding enough to require stitches? Would it get infected without medical attention? Felix, an undocumented teen, doesn’t have insurance that covers visits to the local emergency room. Parents Gabriela and Victor Gonzalez, Mexican immigrants accustomed to raising four boys on a tight budget, made a run to Walmart for bandages and ointment and hoped the gash would heal on its own.
Starting May 1, Felix and roughly 170,000 other undocumented children in California will have more options during such crises. They’ll gain access to not just emergency coverage but also dental care, checkups, mental health treatment and other vital services following an unprecedented Medi-Cal expansion that provides full coverage to all low-income children in the state, regardless of immigration status.
Home to more immigrants than any other state, California will be the largest in the nation to cover undocumented low-income children, joining Washington, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. The expansion, effective next month, was approved by Gov. Jerry Brown in the October 2015 state budget.
