The California Senate voted on Tuesday to allow unauthorized immigrants to buy health insurance on a state exchange created under the U.S. Affordable Care Act, a measure that would make the state the first to offer that kind of coverage.
The bill would not provide a subsidy for undocumented immigrants to buy health insurance, unlike U.S. citizens and legal residents who can qualify for such assistance based on their incomes, said Jesse Melgar, a spokesman for the bill's author, Senator Ricardo Lara.
The Senate voted 28-11 in favor of the proposal, which still must be approved by the state Assembly and signed by the governor, Melgar said. Additionally, a federal waiver would be required for California to implement the measure.
"Today's vote is a transformational and decisive step forward on the path to achieving health for all," Lara, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Undocumented immigrants in the United States can already buy private health insurance outside the exchanges.
But the bill would allow the hundreds of thousands of families in California with a mix of U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants to sign up at the exchange together as a family, said Anthony Wright, executive director of consumer advocacy group Health Access.Read the rest of the story HERE and listen to a related video below:
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