California lawmakers voted Thursday to send $2.8 billion in additional funds to California's low-income health insurance plan, Medi-Cal, to cover higher-than-anticipated costs as the fiscal year ends. The move was part of a budget trailer bill, otherwise known as a "budget bill junior," that gets funds moving before the start of the new fiscal year in July. The bill also authorized spending to support local governments affected by the winter Los Angeles fires, and allocated $181 million in bond funds to nature conservancies for forest resilience. Republicans in both the Assembly and the Senate mostly opposed the passage of the bill, AB 100, and voiced concern about Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented immigrants. In the past few years, California has gradually opened up Medi-Cal to all income-eligible people, regardless of immigration status, despite pushback from the state's Republican minority.
The Newsom administration attributed Medi-Cal's unexpectedly high costs to a few factors: expensive pharmaceutical drugs, continuting COVID-19 era flexibilities, and a higher than anticipated caseload.
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