Opinion: How a healthcare safety net for the poor became California's top priority

Welcome, Californians, to the era of Medi-Cal for All. “Medicare for All,” the political dream of extending federal health program for the elderly and disabled to all Americans, still gets the headlines. But here in the nation’s most populous state, it is Medicaid—or Medi-Cal, as the federal health program for the poor is called in California—that comes closest to providing a universal safety net.