California to provide free sex changes for illegal immigrants — RT World News
About 700,000 illegal aliens will now be able to benefit from hormone and sex reassignment therapy
As of last week, California's taxpayer-funded health care system now covers sex changes for undocumented immigrants, thanks to legislation recently signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The cost of the program is expected to exceed $3 billion.
California became the first state in the United States to provide health insurance to all adults regardless of their immigration status on January 1, when legislation Newsom signed last summer took effect. Nearly 700,000 undocumented immigrants will now get their health care through the state's taxpayer-funded Medi-Cal insurance system, according to a news release from state Sen. Maria Elena Durazo in May.
Among the procedures covered by Medi-Cal are hormone therapy and gender transition surgery, according to a report this week by the Daily Caller, a conservative news outlet.
“Gender affirming care is a covered Medi-Cal benefit when medically necessary,” The 2022 state memo cited by the outlet. “Requests for gender affirming care should be from professionals with experience providing culturally competent care to transgender and gender diverse individuals, and should use nationally recognized guidelines.”
According to the Transgender Law Center, it should be covered by Medi-Cal “Hormonal therapy, sex reassignment surgery, and other necessary procedures.”
Newsom's expansion of Medi-Cal would cost California taxpayers an estimated $3.1 billion, according to an Associated Press report from last year. Republican lawmakers criticized the expansion even before it became clear that it would cover transgender surgery, but their criticism has turned to sarcasm in recent days.
“California is now paying illegal aliens to have sex changes.” Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday. “There is no trace of this tweet. California is the joke.”
Newsom defended the decision to add an additional 700,000 patients to the program. “In California, we believe everyone deserves access to quality, affordable health care coverage – regardless of income or immigration status.” His office told ABC News. “With this expansion, we are ensuring that families and communities across California are healthier, stronger and able to get the care they need when they need it.”
About 300,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended entering the United States from Mexico in December 2023, the highest number on record in a single month. Under President Joe Biden's controversial “catch and release” policy, nearly all of these migrants are being released into the United States with orders to appear at court hearings at a later date. Amid a backlog of more than two million cases, the average wait time for such a hearing was 762 days as of last January.
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