I understand where you are coming from and I totally agree with your viewpoint but here we are talking about new immigrant who have not had any kind of job or insurance in the US.
system is pretty much strapped for cash as you noticed - I too got rejected by CAL social service for emergency medical - lucky thing is I was planing on going back home so I had it after all in my country
California introduced obligatory "residency standard" of 3 MONTHS for everyone asking for free medical so you HAVE TO PROVE THAT YOU ARE RESIDENT OF CALIFORNIA of 3 months in order to obtain free medical ;;; THIS GOES TO FOR NEW - FRESH IMMIGRANTS TOO
WHEN i WAS CHASING MY FREE DENTAL I NOTICED SOME NEW IMMIGRANTS AND THEY ALSO GOT REJECTED RIGHT THERE AND THEN ,so its pretty tough I think - also it might get worse considering that CALIFORNIA state legislators are pushing the rule of 6 months for residency ...in order to stop "wave of out of state residents" coming over to California to"sponge " free medical
Thats timely news very much worth noting. Thanks for that information bmx88