Some Democrat-led states, such as California, have been providing illegal alien residents with free healthcare coverage through taxpayer-funded Medicaid programs, which have strained or overrun the budgets for those state-level programs that were intended to support low-income U.S. citizens.

On Tuesday, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom casually admitted that giving free healthcare coverage to illegal aliens was a "partial" reason for why the state's Medi-Cal program's budget needed a $6.2 billion loan to cover its annual expenses, Fox News reported.

Of course, the Golden State governor's surprising admission of the unexpected costs to taxpayers of his lax immigration policies was immediately followed by a litany of excuses that attempted to absolve him and his fellow Democrats of any real accountability for the massive cost overruns.

Medi-Cal and illegal aliens

Per Fox News, the California legislature and Newsom administration initially budgeted around $6 billion for Medi-Cal and its 15 million enrollees for this fiscal year but, thanks in part to the provision of free healthcare coverage to an estimated 1.6 million illegal aliens in the state, actual costs for the program have soared to around $9.5 billion.

As such, Newsom's administration requested a $3.4 billion loan last week to help cover that projected difference, followed by a second request this week for an additional $2.8 billion loan, for a combined total of $6.2 billion that will eventually have to be repaid with interest by California's taxpayers.

On Tuesday, KCRA reporter Ashley Zavala caught up with the governor at the state Capitol building and asked him how much the expansion of Medi-Cal to "undocumented" migrants had contributed to the cost overruns.

Gov. Newsom told reporters today CA’s healthcare coverage for undocumented people is “partially” contributing its Medi-Cal funding problems.

He told me he thinks his latest $2.8B loan request to help cover costs is the last for the year. pic.twitter.com/0A8SaVnj2x

— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) March 19, 2025

Newsom acknowledged that it was a "partial" reason for the blown budget, but immediately insisted that other Democrat-led states, such as Colorado and Pennsylvania, had experienced similar budget issues as well without having expanded their respective state-level Medicaid programs to cover illegal aliens.

The governor also seemed to suggest that nobody should be surprised by the loan requests since the Medi-Cal budget shortfall was "something we previewed in the January budget." He further implied that higher-than-expected tax revenue collections would help correct the problem in the coming months and was adamant that this would be the final loan request from his administration -- at least for this particular issue this year.

GOP state senator calls out governor's fiscal irresponsibility

Needless to say, fiscally conscious California Republicans who oppose the provision of taxpayer-funded healthcare coverage to illegal aliens, if not illegal immigration altogether, are none too pleased with this developing financial quandry caused by Gov. Newsom's progressive policies.

State Sen. Brian Jones, the Republican Senate Minority Leader, unleashed a justified screed against the governor in an X post on Monday, in which he wrote, "Just days after the Newsom Administration announced a $3.4 billion loan to cover Medi-Cal for illegal immigrants, they are now scrambling to secure an additional $2.8 billion just to keep the program solvent through June."

"That’s a staggering $6.2 billion over budget ... and the costs keep climbing with no end in sight," he continued. "Californians should not be forced to shoulder the burden of radical Democrats' reckless financial mismanagement."

"Even Jerry Brown refused to expand Medi-Cal to all illegal immigrants because he knew it was fiscally irresponsible and unsustainable," Jones said of the prior Democratic governor. "Now under Newsom, legal residents are paying the price both financially and in reduced access to healthcare."

"The public deserves answers: Why are the costs so much higher than what Newsom promised? What is Newsom’s plan to fix the financial disaster he created?" the GOP legislator added. "California taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability, not another blank check for Newsom’s failed political stunts."