California poised to become first-ever state to offer health insurance to some undocumented adults

In a sharp rebuke to the Trump administration, California is expanding access to health care for its largest uninsured group: the undocumented.

Activists have been trying to get the state to cover undocumented residents for some time, as about 1.4 million lack insurance. On Sunday, they made progress when state lawmakers reached a budget agreement that would make California the first-ever state to offer health coverage to certain undocumented residents.

Specifically, undocume...

California to offer healthcare to young working poor living illegally in US

State will become first to give Medicaid access to illegal residents, in defiance of Trump policies

California will become the first state in the US to pay for some adults living in the country illegally to have full health benefits as the solidly liberal state continues to distance itself from President Donald Trump’s administration.

Democrats in the state legislature reached an agreement on Sunday afternoon as part of a broader plan to spend $213bn of state and federal tax money over the next year. The agreement means low-income adults between the ages of 19 and 25 living in California illegally would be eligible for California’s Medicaid program, the joint state and federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled.

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How activists of color got Democrats to care about the Hyde Amendment

H.K. Gray had an abortion, but her insurance wouldn’t pay for it.

“When I was pregnant with my daughter, I used my Medicaid to cover almost all of her birth, almost all of her ultrasounds, and almost everything I needed for pre-natal care,” Gray told ThinkProgress, “So when it came time to when I needed my abortion for my third pregnancy, I just assumed it would work for that as well.”

That’s when Gray learned about the Hyde Amendment, whic...

In reversal, Biden says he no longer supports anti-abortion Hyde Amendment

Former Vice President Joe Biden announced late Thursday that he no longer supports the Hyde Amendment, one day after coming under fire from pro-choice groups and fellow Democrats for reaffirming through his campaign his support for the measure that bans using federal funds for abortions.

Biden told an audience in Georgia that he’d had a change of heart after decades supporting the amendment, motivated by a recent raft of “extreme laws” — including one passed ...