Health4All

The rate of uninsured residents in California has dropped dramatically thanks to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and additional state reforms. Despite this progress, the ACA explicitly and unjustly excludes undocumented immigrants from health coverage. In 2013, the California Immigrant Policy Center and Health Access California formed the Health4All Coalition to advocate for the state to end these unjust and discriminatory exclusions based solely on immigration status.

The coalition’s years of advocacy have resulted in a number of wins. California first invested in providing full-scope Medi-Cal to all low-income children, regardless of immigration status, in 2016 (“Health4All Kids”). Subsequent expansions to include undocumented young adults ages 19-25 and older adults age 50 and above took effect in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Beginning in 2024, California made history by allowing all income-eligible individuals to access Medi-Cal, regardless of immigration status. This is the most expansive program for undocumented older adults in the nation. Ensuring every Californian stays healthy through access to preventative health care not only advances health equity but also makes our health care system stronger and more efficient, benefiting everyone in our state.

However, approximately 530,000 undocumented Californians—our parents and siblings, friends and neighbors, taxpayers and workers in our economy—remain locked out of comprehensive health care because their household incomes are above the Medi-Cal eligibility level and they do not have access to employer coverage or Covered California (the state’s health insurance marketplace).  This is why the next goal of the campaign is to allow all Californians regardless of immigration status to purchase affordable health insurance through Covered California.

Any effort towards universal coverage, whether in California or nationally, will not be successful until everyone, regardless of status, has access to our healthy care safety net programs. The #Health4All Campaign continues to champion the human right to health care for everyone who calls California home.