A trio of blue states that expanded taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal migrants in recent years are now scaling back or freezing coverage as costs soar far higher than anticipated.
California, Illinois and Minnesota — all under the direction of Democrat governors — expanded state healthcare coverage to individuals living unlawfully in the country. However, in the wake of massive budget deficits and higher-than-expected enrollment, all three states have been forced to consider how to rein in coverage for their illegal migrant population.
“In what other country can you just show up, and have the expectation, and get full services from government programs?” California GOP Rep. James Gallagher, who serves as the State Assembly minority leader, told the Daily Caller News Foundation when discussing the budgetary mess his state is currently dealing with. “I’m not aware of any other country that would allow you to do that.”
California burned through $8.5 billion on immigrant health care in 2024 and coverage is expected to cost more than $12 billion in the upcoming year, according to CalMatters.
“It’s just crazy,” Gallagher said. “It’s not sustainable, and that’s why our budget is completely blown.”
Then-California Gov. Jerry Brown expanded Medi-Cal eligibility to illegal migrant minors in 2016. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Democrats then expanded enrollment to young adults in 2020 and seniors in 2022, before making all low-income illegal migrants eligible for the program by January 2024.
Amid a massive budget shortfall, Newsom is now proposing an enrollment freeze on illegal migrant adults into Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid for the poor and disabled, and requiring those already enrolled in the program to pay a $100 monthly premium beginning in 2027.
Illinois and Minnesota have dealt with similar budgetary issues.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker approved a state budget that guts funding for healthcare of illegal migrants between 42 and 64 years of age, according to the Wall Street Journal. The program was initially believed to cost roughly $112 million annually, but soon exploded to an unsustainable projection of $800 million a year.
Minnesota enjoyed an $18 billion surplus when the state expanded healthcare coverage to illegal migrants in 2023, but by the beginning of 2025, lawmakers were wrestling with a long-term deficit of $6 billion, according to the WSJ. The state initially estimated that around 7,700 illegal migrants would enroll in the program when it went into effect in January of this year, but as of April, over 20,000 individuals signed on.
During budget negotiations earlier in June, Minnesota Democrats acquiesced to GOP demands to repeal MinnesotaCare — the state’s Medicaid program — for illegal migrant adults. The austerity measure is expected to save Minnesota roughly $57 million within the next two years, according to a state budget spreadsheet.
Republicans Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie and Minnesota Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth did not respond to a request for comment from DCNF.
The federal government reimburses states for most Medicaid expenditures, but it does not reimburse them for illegal migrant healthcare beyond some emergency-related situations, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Liberal states are further limited in their ambition to provide free healthcare to illegal migrants by the fact that state governments must pass balanced budgets.
Decisions to cutback on taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal migrants haven’t been limited to just state governments. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, also a Democrat, has recently proposed phasing out illegal migrant adults from the D.C. Healthcare Alliance, a locally funded initiative that provides coverage to roughly 27,000 adults in the city, regardless of immigration status.
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