Bay Area Voters Renew Taxes to Fund Health Care for Illegals

On Tuesday, voters in a California Bay Area county passed a half-percent sales tax to fund health care for illegal immigrants to the tune of $100 million a year. 

According to Reuters, voters in Alameda Country supported the “0.5 percent sales tax to fund the clinics” from 2019 to 2034 in order to provide health care to illegal immigrants who are ineligible for Obamacare and other government programs. Measure AA “required two-thirds support to pass and won by a nearly 3-to-1 margin with all precincts reporting.”

There are reportedly 2.6 million illegal immigrants in California, which represents 7% of the state’s population. According to Reuters, “Alameda County, which includes the cities of Berkeley and Oakland east of San Francisco, funds health care services for about 50,000” illegal immigrants.

In 2012, California reportedly “spent more than $600 million on emergency room and other health-related services alone for people living in the state illegally.”