A viral video exposed a major fiscal crisis in California’s Medi-Cal program, where undocumented immigrants’ enrollment has severely exceeded projections, prompting Governor Gavin Newsom to seek $6 billion in emergency loans. The state spends $9.5 billion on coverage, funded partly by federal dollars.
For context, similar issues plague New York, with over 480,000 immigrants in emergency Medicaid and 1.3 million non-citizens holding Social Security numbers for benefits, according to DOGE. The Trump administration has pushed for cuts amid Democratic resistance, arguing that they protect communities. Conservative commenters decry taxpayer burdens, call for border security and deportations, and accuse Democrats of gaslighting on “free healthcare” claims.
In the disturbing video that revealed the massive Golden State healthcare problem, one of the anchors introduced the segment by explaining the issue in California’s Medi-Cal program, saying, “Undocumented immigrants receiving taxpayer-funded benefits resulted in more than a million extra people enrolled in Medicaid alone,”
Continuing, another speaker gave a few more details, saying, “California’s Medicaid system is in crisis, with Governor Gavin Newsom recently asking for not one but two emergency loans totaling more than $6 billion to try to plug holes in the budget after far more undocumented migrants enrolled in Medi-Cal than anticipated in the current year.”
Providing more details on the matter and noting the massive scope of the problem, the same speaker said, “To cover undocumented individuals in Medi Cal, we’re spending $9.5 billion total funds. The state of California has taken 10s of billions of dollars from the federal government, providing free health insurance for illegal immigrants in California, we’re going to get that money back.”
The segment continued to highlight issues in other blue states, noting, “[There is] a similar crisis in New York, where immigrant enrollment in emergency Medicaid has surpassed 480,000 people as Elon Musk and his department of government efficiency team insist they’ve discovered at least 1.3 million illegal migrants have Medicaid.”
Describing the attempts of the Trump administration to curtail this issue, a new speaker in the clip noted, “DOGE is working to make massive cuts. In ’21, you see 270,000 people go all the way to 2.1 million in ’24; these are non-citizens that are getting social security numbers.”
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In conclusion, the video explained the cynical opposition to closing this loophole from Democrats. “Supporters of providing those benefits say it helps protect the entire community. When undocumented immigrants are able to stay healthy, Governor Newsom and others show no sign of changing course, no chance of rolling back any of the immigrant health care,” the video stated.
Watch the clip here:
In the comments under a post that included the clip and took off on X, conservatives expressed their dissatisfaction. “Yeah, nah. Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for this. Secure the border and stop handing out money like it’s unlimited,” one user said in modern internet slang.
Pointing out a possible silver lining, one comment noted, “The one million illegal aliens using Medicaid out in the open should be the easiest to identify and deport.”Agreeing, another user responded, “so the democrats were just gaslighting about illegals “not being on free healthcare” during the shutdown, per usual?”
Outraged, a conservative influencer reacted, “I thought this was common knowledge. It’s been happening in California since 2010.” Following up, a comment asked, “I’m super confused, do people not go to prison anymore for this kind of corruption or???”
Featured image from embedded video