California’s taxpayer-funded healthcare system is now covering sex change surgery for illegal immigrants, thanks to legislation recently signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
On Juanuary 1 California became the first state in the US to provide health insurance to all adults regardless of immigration status as legislation signed by Newsom last summer came into effect.
The expansion of the state Medi-Cal program now covers hormone therapy and surgical interventions for undocumented immigrants.
The cost of the program is expected to top $3 billion.
RT reports: Approximately 700,000 illegal immigrants will now have their healthcare covered by the state’s taxpayer-funded Medi-Cal insurance system, according to a press release from State Senator Maria Elena Durazo in May.
Among the procedures covered by Medi-Cal are hormone therapy and gender transition surgery, according to a report this week by the Daily Caller, a conservative news outlet.
“Gender affirming care is a covered Medi-Cal benefit when medically necessary,” a 2022 state memo cited by the outlet states. “Requests for gender affirming care should be from specialists experienced in providing culturally competent care to transgender and gender diverse individuals and should use nationally recognized guidelines.”
According to the Transgender Law Center, Medi-Cal should cover “hormone treatment, gender reassignment surgery, and other necessary procedures.”
Newsom’s expansion of the Medi-Cal program will cost California taxpayers an estimated $3.1 billion, according to an Associated Press report from last year. Republican lawmakers criticized the expansion even before it emerged that it would cover transgender surgery, but their criticism turned to ridicule in recent days.
“California is now paying for illegal aliens to get sex changes,” Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday. “There’s no punchline to this tweet. California is the punchline.”
The cost of the program is expected to top $3 billion.
