UCLA Luskin health policy expert Mark Peterson weighed in on prospects for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s health care agenda in a story by the Los Angeles Times and KFF News. Newsom has steered tens of billions in public funding to safety net services for the state’s neediest residents and launched initiatives to make health care more affordable, but some of his most sweeping initiatives have faltered. Under the next Trump administration, the governor’s signature health initiatives, as well as his own political future, are likely to become a target. For example, California became the first state in the nation to allow immigrants without legal status to enroll in free health care under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. “That is fuel to feed the Republican MAGA argument that we are taking tax dollars from good Americans and providing health care to immigrants,” said Peterson, a professor of public policy with a joint appointment at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.