NFL legend rips California illegal immigrant health care plan when 'streets are littered with homeless legal residents'
Former NFL running back Herschel Walker succinctly expressed his opposition to a proposed California plan to pay for health insurance for thousands of illegal immigrants in a tweet earlier this week.
What's the story?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Democrats have agreed to a plant hat would fund health care for illegal immigrants under the state's Medi-Cal plan.
The coverage would be for low-income adults in the state illegally who are between the ages of 19 and 25. The agreement was part of the state's budget deal, and will cost a reported $98 million annually to cover about 90,000 illegal immigrants.
What did Walker have to say?
Walker, in his tweet, suggested that the state paying for illegal immigrant health insurance might not be the best use of resources, considering the other issues California is dealing with.
"Not to point fingers at California, but why would you give free healthcare to illegal immigrants when your streets are littered with homeless legal residents, trash, and tents," Walker wrote. "California is a beautiful place, so let's keep it that way."
Where will the money come from?
California will revive the individual mandate that used to apply to the entire country under Obamacare. Under the mandate, people who don't have health insurance are taxed.
So, people who do not have health insurance will pay an additional tax to fund health insurance for people who are living in California illegally.
California's plan could've been even more drastic. Some lawmakers in the state wanted it to also cover health insurance for illegal immigrant senior citizens, and others wanted it to cover everyone above the age of 19. The latter plan could've cost an estimated $3.4 billion.
"We're going to penalize the citizens of this state that have followed the rules, but we're going to let somebody who has not followed the rules come in here and get the services for free. I just think that's wrong," Republican state Sen. Jeff Stone said last month.
