Locals have mixed emotions over health care expansion for undocumented young adults

California is expanding its health care program for low-income residents, Medi-Cal, to include undocumented adults ages 19 through 15. Some Salinas residents support the move, but others think that more needs to be done to help citizens who are here legally first.

Jesus Valenzuela, Communications Manager for Building Healthy Communities, said this is a huge victory for Monterey County.

“A huge percentage of our population is undocumented and will benefit from the statewide program,” Valenzuela said.

In Monterey County alone there is an estimated 60,600 undocumented immigrants, according to the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Research Center.

Greenfield resident Martin Hernandez supports the move to help those in need.

“Hopefully it will benefit many young people who need the help more than anything,” Hernandez said.

Some locals have mixed feelings about the plan. While they want to help undocumented immigrants, they said they think more needs to be done to help people who are living here legally first.

One man who preferred to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation for his political views said there are many veterans he sees on the street who have no health care. He questions why the state isn’t doing more to help them first.

“On the one hand, you have people that would and do need medical health care, but do we do it at the cost of taxing everybody,” he said. “I would tend to first let’s help those here, especially the military, especially children here.”

Advocates acknowledge the health care system is broken, but say this plan won’t have an impact on benefits for legal residents.

“It doesn’t help to operate with the mindset of scarcity. If everybody gets involved, if everybody works together to find solutions then we can have health care for everybody,” Valenzuela said.

Undocumented young adults will still have to qualify for the program based on their income. They will have to have an income 138 percent below the poverty level to qualify for Medi-cal. Under current qualifications, one person would need to make just over 16,000 dollars annually to be eligible. You can find more information on qualifications on ca.gov.