California Budget Health Care Cuts and Choices Emerging in Committee Decisions

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

• Assembly and Senate budget committees vote to reject severe cuts to Medi-Cal, including major denials of coverage to working parents & others, elimination of dental & other benefits. Votes would also restore some of the provider rate reductions.

• Significant cuts agreed to by at least one committee include: Cuts to public and private hospitals, counties, health plans; increases in Healthy Families premiums; additional reporting for children; increased premiums for seniors

• Clear choice in budget debate moving forward: Hundreds of thousands of Californians denied coverage & care, or an alternative to a cuts-only budget that includes revenues

By Hanh Kim Quach
Health Care Policy Coordinator
Health Access California

After a busy week on the floor, Senate and Assembly budget committees topped off the week with simultaneous hearings and votes on outstanding health budget items. A number of items that were left open in previous months while committees vetted the issues were either modified, approved or rejected Friday morning (listing below).

Health Access has posted a Health Care Budget Cuts Scorecard, which details the Governor's proposed cuts, and for each cut, the budget savings, the number of people impacted, and the actions by the Assembly and Senate today.

BUDGET BLUES

The Senate Budget Committee, chaired by Senator Denise Ducheny, and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, chaired by Assemblywoman Patty Berg, both voted to approve or reject the many health care cuts proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger in the May Revision of the budget. That budget sought to bridge a $17.2 billion shortfall in a $100 billion general fund budget without raising taxes.

While no action is final until a final budget is approved and signed into law, both the Assembly and Senate committees rejected many of the Medi-Cal cuts to eligibility and benefits as too severe, and both proposed restoring some of the provider rate cuts made earlier in the year.

At the same time, both committees did vote to approve other cuts proposed by the Governor, and other cuts. Cuts approved by at least one committee included cuts to hospitals, cuts to counties, cuts to Healthy Families health plans; caps in benefits; increases in Healthy Families premiums; additional reporting requirements for children; and increased premiums for seniors.

WHAT’S NEXT