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Fact Sheet

California at Risk: Proposed Federal Funding Cuts Jeopardize Key Services

Republican-Proposed Cuts Threaten Vital Programs and Local Jurisdictions Serving Millions of Californians

February 2025 | By Scott Graves, Nishi Nair, and Laura Pryor

Grandmother, mother and daughter unpacking groceries in the kitchen

Federal funds have long supported vital public services in California — from health care and food assistance to child care and higher education. These services are now in jeopardy due to threatened federal budget cuts and policy rollbacks, putting the health and well-being of millions of Californians at risk.

President Trump and congressional Republicans are seeking deep cuts to federal funding to help offset the cost of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. The Trump administration has already tried to cut spending through its unconstitutional funding freeze, which faces legal challenges. Additional spending cuts are being planned in the Republican-controlled Congress for adoption as soon as this spring.

As highlighted in the table below, federal funding reductions could target a broad range of public services and systems, with substantial human and financial impacts at the state and local levels. The funding cuts under consideration would:

  • Destabilize California’s state budget. Federal funds make up over one-third of the state budget — totaling $170 billion under current state estimates. Most of these federal dollars support Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid program), which provides health coverage to more than 14 million Californians. Republican proposals to slash support for Medicaid could reduce annual federal funding for California by $10-$20 billion or more. Cuts of this magnitude would create a massive budget hole that would force state leaders to make painful spending cuts — cuts that would jeopardize Californians’ access to health care through Medi-Cal as well as threaten other state services and systems.
  • Devastate vital services that help vulnerable Californians make ends meet. In addition to the Medicaid program, federal policymakers could target SNAP food assistance (CalFresh in California), cash assistance for older adults and people with disabilities (SSI), housing supports, child care, and other safety net programs that together support millions of Californians. This includes immigrant communities, Californians with disabilities, low-income families with young children, older adults living on fixed incomes, and many more.
  • Undermine K-12 schools and higher education. Public education could face cuts to federal grant programs and/or a shift of federal funds to private schools. The Trump administration has already announced billions of dollars in cuts to research institutions across the country, and higher education “remains particularly vulnerable to the consequences” of the federal funding freeze.
  • Erode critical funding for California’s local jurisdictions. Counties, cities, and special districts rely on federal funding to support the services that they deliver to their residents. Counties, for example, operate health and safety net programs on behalf of the state, with federal funding making up a large share of the funds that counties receive for this purpose. County officials are particularly concerned about Trump’s unconstitutional funding freeze, which they have called “an evolving situation with potentially significant impacts to funding that counties utilize to serve communities.”

One thing is clear: These Republican-proposed cuts would harm millions of Californians, all to bankroll tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, who are already thriving.

Erik Saucedo contributed to this publication.

Federal Policy
SSI/SSP

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Access to affordable health care, housing, and nutritious food is necessary for all Californians to thrive. But Republican federal budget proposals would pave the way for deep and harmful cuts that would take health coverage, nutrition assistance, and other essentials away from millions of Californians who are already struggling to make ends meet in the face of persistently high inflation and the high cost of living. These cuts would increase poverty and hardship, widen race and ethnic inequities, and make it harder for workers to maintain their jobs in exchange for funding huge tax giveaways for the wealthy. 

This fact sheet shows how many residents in California’s 41st Congressional District, represented by Representative Ken Calvert, benefit from vital programs at risk of being cut. The data illustrate the potentially wide-reaching impact cuts could have in the community.

Health Care

Medi-Cal saves lives. It’s a lifeline that provides free or low-cost health coverage for nearly 15 million Californians — over one-third of the state’s population — including children, pregnant individuals, seniors, and people with disabilities. Cutting Medi-Cal funding would mean taking critical care away from residents in California’s 41st Congressional District who need it the most. Without access to health coverage, Californians will face impossible choices that put their health and economic security at risk while also driving up long-term costs for the state.

Nutrition

CalFresh nutrition assistance helps over 5 million Californians each month, including workers with low-paying jobs, buy the food they need to support their households. It brings billions of federal dollars into the state each year that Californians spend in their communities helping to boost local businesses and jobs. In early 2023, CalFresh kept 1.1 million state residents out of poverty, reducing California’s poverty rate by 3 percentage points, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Cutting CalFresh funding would increase poverty and hunger, making it harder for residents in California’s 41st Congressional District to maintain their jobs, and hurting local businesses as families spend less on groceries. Cuts could also reduce students’ access to free meals at school, putting additional pressure on family budgets.

Income

Income supports like CalWORKs and SSI help Californians with very low incomes, including people who are blind and individuals with disabilities, pay the rent and buy essentials for their families, like diapers and school supplies. These and other safety net supports lifted 3.2 million Californians out of poverty in early 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Cutting vital income supports would increase poverty and hardship among residents of CA-41, including low-income families with children, seniors, and disabled children and adults. Cuts would also reduce the spending power of residents in California’s 41st Congressional District hurting local businesses and the local economy.

Housing and Homelessness

Housing is core to dignity, health, and economic stability. Yet, 60% of renters in CA-41 face unaffordable housing costs — the primary driver of housing insecurity and homelessness. In 2023 alone, 4,050 Californians experiencing homelessness engaged with service providers in CA-41. Key programs like the Continuum of Care Program are vital regional initiatives working to end and prevent homelessness in every congressional district. Housing Choice Vouchers — though significantly oversubscribed — help ensure residents can secure, afford, and maintain stable housing. Cutting these programs would mean the families, children, individuals, and seniors who rely on these essential supports would not be able to stay in their homes, increasing the risk of homelessness for many Californians.

Refundable Income Tax Credits

Credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) are proven tools for improving economic security among Californians with low and moderate incomes, and they’ve been linked to long-term benefits for children, including better health and school achievement. Cutting these credits would take away income that families in CA-41 count on to make ends meet, reducing their spending power and hurting local businesses and the economy.

District Context

Deep cuts to health coverage, nutrition assistance, and other essential supports would harm residents throughout CA-41, making it harder for families and individuals to afford health care and food and increasing poverty and hardship. Instead of making deep cuts to vital services to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, Congress should instead pass a budget that broadens opportunity, cuts costs for families, and invests in people so that residents in California’s 41st Congressional District can thrive in their communities.

Federal Policy

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Access to affordable health care, housing, and nutritious food is necessary for all Californians to thrive. But Republican federal budget proposals would pave the way for deep and harmful cuts that would take health coverage, nutrition assistance, and other essentials away from millions of Californians who are already struggling to make ends meet in the face of persistently high inflation and the high cost of living. These cuts would increase poverty and hardship, widen race and ethnic inequities, and make it harder for workers to maintain their jobs in exchange for funding huge tax giveaways for the wealthy. 

This fact sheet shows how many residents in California’s 22nd Congressional District, represented by Representative David Valadao, benefit from vital programs at risk of being cut. The data illustrate the potentially wide-reaching impact cuts could have in the community.

Health Care

Medi-Cal saves lives. It’s a lifeline that provides free or low-cost health coverage for nearly 15 million Californians — over one-third of the state’s population — including children, pregnant individuals, seniors, and people with disabilities. Cutting Medi-Cal funding would mean taking critical care away from residents in California’s 22nd Congressional District who need it the most. Without access to health coverage, Californians will face impossible choices that put their health and economic security at risk while also driving up long-term costs for the state.

Nutrition

CalFresh nutrition assistance helps over 5 million Californians each month, including workers with low-paying jobs, buy the food they need to support their households. It brings billions of federal dollars into the state each year that Californians spend in their communities helping to boost local businesses and jobs. In early 2023, CalFresh kept 1.1 million state residents out of poverty, reducing California’s poverty rate by 3 percentage points, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Cutting CalFresh funding would increase poverty and hunger, making it harder for residents in California’s 22nd Congressional District to maintain their jobs, and hurting local businesses as families spend less on groceries. Cuts could also reduce students’ access to free meals at school, putting additional pressure on family budgets.

Income

Income supports like CalWORKs and SSI help Californians with very low incomes, including people who are blind and individuals with disabilities, pay the rent and buy essentials for their families, like diapers and school supplies. These and other safety net supports lifted 3.2 million Californians out of poverty in early 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Cutting vital income supports would increase poverty and hardship among residents of CA-22, including low-income families with children, seniors, and disabled children and adults. Cuts would also reduce the spending power of residents in California’s 22nd Congressional District hurting local businesses and the local economy.

Housing & Homelessness

Housing is core to dignity, health, and economic stability. Yet, 56% of renters in CA-22 face unaffordable housing costs — the primary driver of housing insecurity and homelessness. In 2023 alone, 6,611 Californians experiencing homelessness engaged with service providers in CA-22. Key programs like the Continuum of Care Program are vital regional initiatives working to end and prevent homelessness in every congressional district. Housing Choice Vouchers — though significantly oversubscribed — help ensure residents can secure, afford, and maintain stable housing. Cutting these programs would mean the families, children, individuals, and seniors who rely on these essential supports would not be able to stay in their homes, increasing the risk of homelessness for many Californians.

Refundable Income Tax Credits

Credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) are proven tools for improving economic security among Californians with low and moderate incomes, and they’ve been linked to long-term benefits for children, including better health and school achievement. Cutting these credits would take away income that families in CA-22 count on to make ends meet, reducing their spending power and hurting local businesses and the economy.

District Context

Deep cuts to health coverage, nutrition assistance, and other essential supports would harm residents throughout CA-22, making it harder for families and individuals to afford health care and food and increasing poverty and hardship. Instead of making deep cuts to vital services to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, Congress should instead pass a budget that broadens opportunity, cuts costs for families, and invests in people so that residents in California’s 22nd Congressional District can thrive in their communities.

Federal Policy

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Access to affordable health care, housing, and nutritious food is necessary for all Californians to thrive. But Republican federal budget proposals would pave the way for deep and harmful cuts that would take health coverage, nutrition assistance, and other essentials away from millions of Californians who are already struggling to make ends meet in the face of persistently high inflation and the high cost of living. These cuts would increase poverty and hardship, widen race and ethnic inequities, and make it harder for workers to maintain their jobs in exchange for funding huge tax giveaways for the wealthy.

This fact sheet shows how many residents in California’s 40th Congressional District, represented by Representative Young Kim, benefit from vital programs at risk of being cut. The data illustrate the potentially wide-reaching impact cuts could have in the community.

Health Care

Medi-Cal saves lives. It’s a lifeline that provides free or low-cost health coverage for nearly 15 million Californians — over one-third of the state’s population — including children, pregnant individuals, seniors, and people with disabilities. Cutting Medi-Cal funding would mean taking critical care away from residents in California’s 40th Congressional District who need it the most. Without access to health coverage, Californians will face impossible choices that put their health and economic security at risk while also driving up long-term costs for the state.

Nutrition

CalFresh nutrition assistance helps over 5 million Californians each month, including workers with low-paying jobs, buy the food they need to support their households. It brings billions of federal dollars into the state each year that Californians spend in their communities helping to boost local businesses and jobs. In early 2023, CalFresh kept 1.1 million state residents out of poverty, reducing California’s poverty rate by 3 percentage points, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Cutting CalFresh funding would increase poverty and hunger, making it harder for residents in California’s 40th Congressional District to maintain their jobs, and hurting local businesses as families spend less on groceries. Cuts could also reduce students’ access to free meals at school, putting additional pressure on family budgets.

Income

Income supports like CalWORKs and SSI help Californians with very low incomes, including people who are blind and individuals with disabilities, pay the rent and buy essentials for their families, like diapers and school supplies. These and other safety net supports lifted 3.2 million Californians out of poverty in early 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Cutting vital income supports would increase poverty and hardship among residents of CA-40, including low-income families with children, seniors, and disabled children and adults. Cuts would also reduce the spending power of residents in California’s 40th Congressional District hurting local businesses and the local economy.

Housing & Homelessness

Housing is core to dignity, health, and economic stability. Yet, 61% of renters in CA-40 face unaffordable housing costs — the primary driver of housing insecurity and homelessness. In 2023 alone, 5,082 Californians experiencing homelessness engaged with service providers in CA-40. Key programs like the Continuum of Care Program are vital regional initiatives working to end and prevent homelessness in every congressional district. Housing Choice Vouchers — though significantly oversubscribed — help ensure residents can secure, afford, and maintain stable housing. Cutting these programs would mean the families, children, individuals, and seniors who rely on these essential supports would not be able to stay in their homes, increasing the risk of homelessness for many Californians.

Refundable Income Tax Credits

Credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) are proven tools for improving economic security among Californians with low and moderate incomes, and they’ve been linked to long-term benefits for children, including better health and school achievement. Cutting these credits would take away income that families in CA-40 count on to make ends meet, reducing their spending power and hurting local businesses and the economy.

District Context

Deep cuts to health coverage, nutrition assistance, and other essential supports would harm residents throughout CA-40, making it harder for families and individuals to afford health care and food and increasing poverty and hardship. Instead of making deep cuts to vital services to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, Congress should instead pass a budget that broadens opportunity, cuts costs for families, and invests in people so that residents in California’s 40th Congressional District can thrive in their communities.

Federal Policy

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Every Californian deserves the dignity of a safe, affordable home — an attainable reality in a state as prosperous and resourceful as California. Yet state homelessness and affordable housing investments are approaching critical funding cliffs, with deeper cuts expected in 2025 if one-time allocations are discontinued and federal dollars face cuts under the Trump administration. Ensuring vital housing efforts continue will require sustained funding and new revenue to protect and uplift Californians and communities statewide.  

Noteable state investments in California’s homelessness response and affordable housing production began in 2019. Over the past six years, the combination of flexible federal dollars during the COVID-19 pandemic, strong state revenues, and a growing urgency to address housing costs led to unprecedented state investments in affordable housing and other homelessness solutions — however, continuing this progress hinges on ongoing funding.

Core State Investments to Solve Homelessness Are Temporary

California homelessness-related spending reached a high of $6.8 billion in 2022-23, fueled by the surge in state revenue during the pandemic and flexible federal dollars. However, 2024-25 spending dropped to $2.5 billion, nearly half of which is not guaranteed in the next budget cycle. Although these investments have not fully met the scale needed to end homelessness, they have helped more Californians experiencing homelessness to access stable housing than ever before. These dollars, while designed as temporary, are also now core to California’s homelessness response systems statewide, making the potential loss of funding a significant threat to ongoing progress.

State Affordable Housing Investments Remain Low

Meaningful investments in affordable housing, particularly for individuals and families with the lowest incomes, can help solve the ongoing struggle of more Californians falling into homelessness and facing housing insecurity faster than they can be stably housed. Yet, despite the critical need, the 2024 Budget Act cut over $1 billion for various housing programs, while continuing some modest one-time augmentations. 

Despite the state's unprecedented recent investments in affordable housing, state General Fund dollars comprised less than 20% of funding that supported affordable housing and homeownership attainment between 2019 and 2023. The majority of non-General Fund dollars for affordable housing primarily reflects federal funds and private bonds that are likely threatened with the incoming Trump administration. Potential cuts to federal funding for affordable housing underscore the need for state leaders to amplify and continue efforts, particularly given that all of these investments are still a small share of the sustained funding needed to solve California’s housing shortage.

As California faces projected budget shortfalls and potential federal funding cuts to vital housing and safety net programs under the Trump administration, it’s more urgent than ever to sustain the programs that are building affordable housing and keeping Californians housed. Without robust new revenue streams and continuous funding, these successful efforts face dire cuts that will have devastating consequences for Californians who rely on them and communities across the state.

Housing & Homelessness

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Access to affordable child care remains a challenge for families with low incomes in California. Despite decades of effort, a large gap between supply and demand persists. In 2015, 85% of eligible children lacked access to subsidized child care, a figure that grew to 89% in 2017 and remained the same in 2022. This means that in 2022, only 1 in 9 children eligible for subsidized child care programs received services.

These statewide trends are mirrored at a more local level. County-level trends reflect the same disparity, as shown in the map below, which highlights the unmet need for child care across California.1The following counties are grouped together due to small sample sizes when calculating the number of eligible children: 1) Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, Tuolumne; 2) Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou;  3) Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, Trinity; 4) Sierra, Nevada, Butte; 5) Lake, Mendocino; 6) San Benito, Monterey; 7) Sutter, Yuba. This analysis focuses on programs administered by the Department of Social Services for children 0 to 12 and excludes programs overseen by the California Department of Education — the California State Preschool Program and Transitional Kindergarten — due to changes in program structure and eligibility.

Unmet Need for Child Care Across California Counties

Statewide Policy Implications

While the supply of subsidized child care has increased since the dramatic cuts made during the Great Recession over a decade ago, California is still a long way away from meeting families’ child care needs. In the current context, state leaders must continue to prioritize increasing capacity in subsidized care. This includes following through on the promise of 200,000 additional child care spaces by 2027 and ensuring resources are available to work toward ensuring that every eligible child has access, particularly in regions where unmet need is higher. The state can also help address challenges counties face with utilizing available slots by streamlining paperwork, improving outreach to families, adjusting rigid eligibility requirements, and improving facilities.  Additionally, state leaders need to make robust investments in the child care workforce. This includes strengthening pathways into the child care field as well as ensuring providers are paid a fair wage so that the overall system thrives and is able to meet families’ child care needs. To achieve these goals, a comprehensive, sustained commitment from state leaders is essential to build a stronger, more equitable child care infrastructure for all California families.

Child Care & Preschool
  • 1
    The following counties are grouped together due to small sample sizes when calculating the number of eligible children: 1) Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, Tuolumne; 2) Del Norte, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Siskiyou;  3) Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, Trinity; 4) Sierra, Nevada, Butte; 5) Lake, Mendocino; 6) San Benito, Monterey; 7) Sutter, Yuba. ↩︎

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key takeaway

California’s undocumented residents contribute nearly $8.5 billion in taxes, playing a crucial role in supporting public services while remaining excluded from essential programs.

All Californians should be able to live thriving lives and participate in their communities, regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, or immigration status.

California is home to a sizable population of immigrants — with and without legal status — who are students, teachers, artists, chefs, business owners, religious leaders, colleagues, neighbors, family members, and more. Undocumented Californians pay billions of dollars in taxes and play a vital role in stimulating California’s economy. They help keep businesses running, put food on tables, care for children and loved ones, enrich communities through art and music, and much more.

Tax Contributions by Undocumented Californians

One contribution that is often overlooked or underestimated is the amount of taxes that individuals who are undocumented are paying into publicly-funded systems to support public services, even as they are excluded from benefiting from many of those same services.

Undocumented Californians paid nearly $8.5 billion in state and local taxes in 2022, according to estimates from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). This includes the sales and excise taxes paid on purchases, the property taxes paid on homes or indirectly through rents, individual and business income taxes, unemployment taxes, and other types of taxes.

These tax contributions support the public services and infrastructure that benefit all Californians, such as education, roads and transit, emergency response, and the social safety net. However, despite recent progress in making some public supports more inclusive of Californians regardless of their immigration status, many programs continue to unjustly exclude undocumented individuals and families who pay into these systems and seek support in times of need.

Portrait of child girl eating on snack time at school

H.R. 1 and the Federal Budget

H.R. 1, the harmful Republican mega bill passed in July 2025, will deeply harm Californians by cutting funding for essential programs like health care, food assistance, and education.

See how California leaders can respond and protect vital supports.

Learn More

California has taken steps in recent years that recognize the importance of supporting everyone regardless of status, including:

  • Expanding full-scope Medi-Cal health coverage to all eligible Californians regardless of immigration status. We are already seeing signs of benefits from making Medi-Cal more inclusive: After full-scope Medi-Cal was expanded to undocumented children, the share of non-citizen children reporting excellent health status increased by 10 percentage points while no changes were seen for citizen children not impacted by the expansion.
  • Ending the exclusion of tax filers with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) from the benefits of the state’s refundable tax credits — the CalEITC and the Young Child Tax Credit.
  • Taking the first steps to provide access to nutrition benefits through the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) for undocumented adults age 55 and older, who are excluded from receiving federally funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (CalFresh in California) benefits. However, the 2024-25 state budget delayed the implementation of this expansion until 2027.

Despite this progress, Californians without documentation remain excluded from many critical supports, jeopardizing their health and economic security. While many of these exclusions stem from federal law, state leaders can further support these Californians by using state resources to end the exclusions. State policymakers should:

  • Ensure undocumented workers have access to unemployment support when they lose a job by funding cash assistance for workers excluded from traditional unemployment insurance benefits. The Legislature recently passed a bill to require the Employment Development Department to develop a plan to establish an Excluded Workers Program, but the governor vetoed the bill citing concerns about the cost and the deadline set in the bill.
  • Address food insecurity in undocumented communities by expanding CFAP nutrition benefits to undocumented Californians of all ages.
  • Build on the success of ending Medi-Cal exclusions by expanding access to health coverage through Covered California to undocumented families whose income make them ineligible for Medi-Cal.
  • Expand the Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants (CAPI) to undocumented older adults and people with disabilities whose immigration status disqualifies them from receiving Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP). 
  • Increase funding for free tax preparation services to enable more undocumented Californians to apply for and renew ITINs and file income returns — allowing them to pay the taxes they owe and receive the tax credits they are eligible for.

Exclusions from these vital services are one contributor to the higher rate of poverty among undocumented Californians. This results in unnecessary human suffering and additional strains on community services that people use as a last resort, such as emergency rooms.

Federal action is also needed, including ending unjust exclusions from federal safety net and financial assistance programs and providing an accessible path to citizenship for those who have been living, working, and contributing to their communities. Granting legal status to these individuals would provide them with greater economic security and stability, and allow them to make even more meaningful contributions to the state.

Furthermore, by allowing all workers to pursue legal employment, granting legal status could increase the state and local tax contributions of Californians currently lacking documentation from $8.5 billion to $10.3 billion, according to ITEP estimates. This would deepen their already significant contributions to California’s economy and public support programs.

Regardless of the prospects for federal action, California leaders have the tools to continue making the state’s services inclusive of all its residents and ensuring that no one is left out of critical safety net programs.

Health
Safety Net
Taxes & Revenue

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key takeaway

California’s expansion of Medi-Cal to include all eligible residents, regardless of immigration status, has improved health outcomes for non-citizen children. However, gaps remain for undocumented adults who lack coverage, highlighting the need for continued efforts to promote health equity and economic stability for all Californians.

Immigrants are an integral part of California’s communities and the state’s social fabric. Over the years, California has set itself apart from other states by advancing inclusive policies that support immigrants while fostering economic growth. A key example is the state’s efforts to make coverage through Medi-Cal, California’s state Medicaid program, more accessible for immigrants. This year, California became the first state in the nation to expand comprehensive Medi-Cal coverage to all eligible Californians, regardless of immigration status. The timeline below shows the steps that state leaders have taken to end the unjust exclusions in Medi-Cal.

A look at reported health status shows promising signs that Medi-Cal expansion to undocumented Californians is positively impacting health.1Our analysis focuses on the Medi-Cal expansion to undocumented children. Data for the most recent Medi-Cal expansion are not yet available for analysis. Analysis for the 2020 expansion to young adults is excluded due to potential confounding effects stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. Data show that the proportion of non-citizen children who reported being in excellent health after the expansion increased by 10 percentage points from 20% to 30%. In contrast, citizen children, who were not affected, did not experience any change in their reported health status. At a high level, this analysis suggests there is a link between access and improved health status.

While California has led the nation in closing health coverage gaps, access is still limited for undocumented Californians who do not qualify for Medi-Cal or lack employer-based health insurance. The percentage of uninsured Californians hit a record low in 2022 at 6.5%, but the gains are not distributed equally. Research suggests that over one in four undocumented immigrants under 64 will remain uninsured due to their exclusion from Covered California.

Ensuring that everyone has access to health care benefits all Californians, as health coverage is critical for preventing poverty and fostering economic stability. People without coverage are more likely to face high health care costs or medical debt and are less likely to receive preventive care or treatment for chronic health conditions.

Policymakers can continue to advance health equity by ending unjust exclusions in Covered California, our state’s health insurance marketplace. By building on the historic Medi-Cal expansions and investing in other equitable health policies, policymakers can ensure all Californians can be healthy and thrive.

Health
  • 1
    Our analysis focuses on the Medi-Cal expansion to undocumented children. Data for the most recent Medi-Cal expansion are not yet available for analysis. Analysis for the 2020 expansion to young adults is excluded due to potential confounding effects stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. ↩︎

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