Maybe they can ship them to Boulder – or, heck, Martha's Vineyard

Migrants Return to Vineyard for Heartfelt Reunion

Illegal immigrant healthcare costs in blue state triggers intense budget debate

Gov Gavin Newsom proposes $100 monthly premium for immigrants, while some Democrats suggest tax hikes

I’m betting the “solution” will be the the tax hike on legal, tax-paying constituents so that the selfish brutes can “pay their fair share”.

The [completely powerless in this one-party state] Republican minority leaders in California are responding to potential next steps for the highly scrutinized Medi-Cal program, which is insolvent, as some believe the ability for people to enroll "regardless of their immigration status" is a leading cause. 

The state faces a $12 billion budget shortfall as budget talks continue in Sacramento.

The Medi-Cal program went insolvent earlier this year after it went billions over budget, resulting in $3.44 billion in loan requests to salvage the program, which covers low-income Golden State residents. Republicans said it was in large part due to illegal immigrants being allowed to enroll in the program, and Newsom also said that it was part of the spending issue, but not the whole picture.

"That’s going to continue to be a big debate here in California as we're wrestling with a $12 billion dollar deficit and the cost of providing free healthcare to illegal immigrants is $11.4 billion dollars, so if we just didn't do that, that would eliminate our budget deficit," California State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones said. "Now, there's lots of other ways we can find $12 billion dollars to eliminate the deficit as well."

Newsom’s May budget revision proposes a pause for adults 19 and older from enrolling in "full-scope coverage" and to start charging a $100 premium each month "for individuals with certain statuses," Fox News Digital reported earlier this month. 

"To be very clear, these proposals are the results of a $16 billion Trump Slump and higher-than-expected health care utilization. Because of these outside factors, the state must take difficult but necessary steps to ensure fiscal stability and preserve the long-term viability of Medi-Cal for all Californians," Elana Ross, deputy communications director for Newsom's office, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

[We interrupt her lying to bring you this this important news on the media-created and touted “Trump Slump” — Ed]

May 27, 2025, PowerLine: The May consumer confidence numbers came in today, and they are awesome:

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index leaped to 98.0, a 12.3-point increase from April and much better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 86.0.
***
The present situation index increased to 135.9, up 4.8 points, and the expectations index posted a major surge to 72.8, a 17.4-point gain. Investors also showed more optimism, with 44% now expecting stocks to be higher over the next 12 months, up 6.4 percentage points from April.

Views on the labor market also improved, with 19.2% of respondents expecting more jobs to be available in the next six months, compared with 13.9% in April.

(We now return you to your regularly-scheduled duplicity diet)

The proposal from the Newsom administration sparked criticism among some in the legislature, as the Democratic California Legislative Latino Caucus is suggesting a tax hike to pay for the program’s coverage for illegal immigrants, according to KCRA.

Meanwhile, Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher told Fox News Digital in an interview that the budget shortfall is "a total disaster" that "was completely predictable."

"You know, two years ago, Gavin Newsom and the supermajority Democrats decided to fund illegal immigrant healthcare through our Medi-Cal program. And everybody said it's gonna be billions of dollars. It's not sustainable. And at the time, Biden was president, and people were coming across the border, millions of people. We had no idea. And I think a lot of them came to California and signed up. And so now we have a completely unsustainable, bankrupted Medi-Cal system that's required $3.4 billion worth of loans to prop up."

On a federal level, the pending reconciliation bill that recently passed the House of Representatives could also create issues for the state’s Medi-Cal offerings, as it would change the federal "match" from 90% to 80% for care that is not an emergency, which the Newsom administration says could cost the state billions, The Center Square reported.

"If Republicans move this extreme MAGA proposal forward, millions will lose coverage, hospitals will close, and safety nets could collapse under the weight," Newsom stated last week.

This “radical” reform is to stop things like this: