California is pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into a welfare scheme that delivers free, high-end meals to Medi-Cal recipients including illegal immigrants even as working families across the country struggle to afford basic groceries.
According to the Daily Caller, a recent City Journal investigation found that enrollees in Californias Medi-Cal program are receiving weekly deliveries of salmon, beef, organic produce and pre-packaged luxury health food brands under Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsoms $12 billion Medicaid overhaul known as CalAIM. The report underscores how, under President Trumps second administration, Californias political leadership is doubling down on expansive welfare benefits while many Americans are tightening their belts at the checkout line.
The City Journal report notes that to qualify for these food benefits, individuals must be enrolled in Medi-Cal and report an underlying health condition, which can range from chronic disease to mental or behavioral health issues. Newsoms office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundations request for comment, leaving unanswered why Sacramento believes taxpayers should underwrite premium groceries for those in the country illegally.
Once approved, Medi-Cal uses Medicaid funds to pay California-based food contractors to deliver these meals directly to recipients doorsteps for up to 12 weeks at a time, with the option to reenroll. One such contractor, Project FoodBox, is described as the nations largest biller of Medicaid code S9977, an unspecified meals code that covers medically tailored food, and it raked in $67.8 million dollars from Medicaid between 2022 and 2024.
Another contractor, Hunger: Not Impossible now operating as Bento Health reportedly received more than $7.7 million in Medicaid funds to connect Medicaid health plan members with curated groceries, which includes sending luxury food items to illegal immigrants. On its website, Bento Health openly states that eligibility for its services is not tied to immigration status, employment status, nationality, or any other factor other than your insurance providers eligibility criteria, effectively confirming that illegal immigrants are fully included.
City Journal reported that these medically tailored meals programs cost taxpayers more than $1,500 for a single recipient, a staggering figure at a time when many citizens are cutting back on essentials. Nearly 14 million people in California are enrolled in Medi-Cal, according to an Aug. 12 report from the UC Berkeley Labor Center, magnifying the potential long-term cost of such expansive benefits.
In 2024, California extended full-scope Medi-Cal coverage to illegal aliens, with roughly 1.6 million illegal individuals now relying on the program for free healthcare, according to the California Health Care Foundation. Although the state has since frozen new sign-ups for illegal immigrants, it continues to allow previously enrolled illegals to keep their coverage, meaning qualified noncitizens can still receive these state-funded luxury food boxes at no cost.
This aggressive welfare expansion comes just a week after the federal government deferred $1.2 billion in Medicaid funding to California, raising questions about fiscal responsibility in a state already burdened by high taxes and chronic budget pressures. Meanwhile, California remains the most expensive state for groceries in the continental U.S., with prices nearly 11 percent above the national average, as highlighted in a Sept. 15 cost-of-living report from Visual Capitalist.
Across the country, nearly one in five working adults is now dipping into savings just to pay for weekly groceries, according to a recent Urban Institute study on how American families are managing food costs. Against that backdrop, Californias decision to prioritize luxury meal deliveries for Medi-Cal recipients including illegal immigrants underscores a broader ideological divide: while conservatives emphasize protecting taxpayers, enforcing immigration laws and restoring affordability for working families, progressive leaders in Sacramento continue to channel scarce public dollars into expansive welfare benefits that many citizens can only dream of affording for themselves.
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