Kristen Golden Testa, California health director with the Santa Monica-based nonprofit The Children’s Partnership, says the situation will get even better next year once a groundbreaking new state law to help undocumented children goes into effect.
“All low-income children will be able to enroll in Medi-Cal regardless of their immigration status,” she says. “This will mean an additional 170,000 children will have insurance.”
Because California has the biggest population in the country, Testa says gains in the Golden State will make a “big dent” in the national rate of uninsured children.