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Democrats want to remove a provision of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) before reopening the government, but Republicans argue the line item they want removed is allowing California to use a “loophole” to draw down funds from the federal government to help pay for the state’s ballooning cost of healthcare for illegal immigrants.
The White House released a memo on Wednesday during the first day of the government shutdown fight indicating Democrats want to repeal Trump reforms in his “big, beautiful bill” that aimed to close this alleged backdoor tactic. However, California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office and left-leaning health policy experts insist claims that California is using this tactic are not true.
“When Democrats say, as they keep saying, that there is no federal money or any taxpayer money going for illegal immigrant healthcare because it’s illegal and barred by federal law, it’s simply not true,” said Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host now running to replace Newsom as governor of California.
Hilton claimed that California has been using a complex Medicaid provision known as a “provider tax” to obtain matching federal dollars, which then gets pooled into the money used by the state to pay for its healthcare offered to undocumented immigrants.
WHITE HOUSE MEMO SAYS DEMOCRATS’ PLAN COULD SPEND $200B ON HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
California is being accused of utilizing a Medicaid “loophole” to draw down federal funds to help pay for the ballooning cost of illegal immigrant healthcare. (Getty/iStock)
“If [federal dollars] are funding non-emergency healthcare for ineligible immigrants, the sole cause is provider taxes,” Michael Cannon, a health policy expert at the CATO Institute told Fox News Digital.
Cannon, however, suggested Republicans shot themselves in the foot by choosing only to limit the scope of eligibility around provider tax funds in the OBBBA, saying no more could go to states…
