Here in California Arnold is trying to make it harder to enroll in Medi-Cal programs so as to save money in the budget.

I've argued before that Krugman is wrong on this matter, for the reason you mentioned as well as a whole host of others. Unfortunately for most Kossacks, they see Krugman and thinks everything he says is gospel, that they can accept it as unquestioned fact - instead of reading his words with the same critical eyes we read everyone else's with.