SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The state does not have the fiscal capacity to make up for the massive, oncoming federal cuts to healthcare programs used by millions of vulnerable Californians, a stark reality that will force state lawmakers to consider reducing benefits and eligibility and swell the number of residents without medical insurance. <\/p>\n
That blunt assessment<\/a>, released by the state\u2019s Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office, comes at a time when the state faces ongoing budget deficits \u2014 with a $17-billion shortfall estimated for the next fiscal year \u2014 and imminent cuts to food support programs, such as SNAP, caused by the government shutdown. <\/p>\n On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the combined fallout from the shutdown and the Republican-backed \u201cBig, Beautiful Bill\u201d has left states in the lurch. <\/p>\n We\u2019re looking at \u201cthe largest cuts to Medicaid in American history,\u201d Newsom said at a news conference. \u201cThey supported the largest cuts to food stamps and SNAP in American history \u2014 $186 billion over the next ten years \u2014 before this manufactured crisis, this decision they are making not to provide the contingency funds to mitigate the impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n The governor said he\u2019s working with state legislators to identify additional resources to help offset the cuts, but there\u2019s only so much states can do. <\/p>\n Top California health officials on Monday also warned that the federal cuts will deliver a devastating blow to public health and affect all Californians, including those with private health insurance, as the state struggles to mitigate the damage. <\/p>\n \u201cThese changes will impact our emergency departments, rural hospitals, private and public hospitals, community health centers, ambulance providers and the broader health care system that serves every community,\u201d said Michelle Baass, director of the California Department of Health Care Services. <\/p>\n Baass was among several experts who spoke at a briefing about the effects of HR 1, a massive tax and spending bill passed by the Republican-led Congress and signed by President Trump<\/a> that shifts federal funding away from safety-net programs for the vulnerable and toward tax cuts and immigration enforcement. She said the legislation makes sweeping changes to Medi-Cal, as Medicaid is known in California.<\/p>\n It \u201cwill cause widespread harm by making massive reductions in federal funding and potentially cripple the health care safety net,\u201d Baass said. \u201cThese changes put tens of billions of dollars of federal funding at risk for California and could result in a loss of coverage for millions of Californians.\u201d<\/p>\n The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office, which advises the California Legislature on budget and policy issues, in an Oct. 24 report estimated the federal cuts could reduce funding \u201cas much as tens of billions of dollars.\u201d The report warned that about 1.2 million people may lose coverage under Medi-Cal, which provides healthcare to eligible low-income residents. Baass predicts that number may be much higher. <\/p>\n \u201cThe state does not have fiscal capacity to backfill all of the lost federal revenue resulting from H.R. 1,\u201d the legislative report stated. \u201cAs such, the Legislature will want to consider how to balance Medi\u2011Cal eligibility, benefits, and financing moving forward. Changes to Medi\u2011Cal will come with key policy trade\u2011offs around access, costs, and other priorities that the Legislature will need to weigh.\u201d<\/p>\n To alleviate some of the effects, state lawmakers could possibly raise existing taxes on private health plans and hospitals, but those extra costs probably would increase costs for all Californians seeking care at a time when people already are struggling with the state\u2019s high cost of living. <\/p>\n About 15 million Californians \u2014 a third of the state \u2014 are on Medi-Cal, with some of the highest percentages being in rural counties. More than half of the children in California receive healthcare coverage through Medi-Cal, according to the state Department of Health Care Services.<\/p>\n Baass explained that the federal legislation creates new eligibility requirements for Medicaid. Starting in 2027, many individuals ages 19 to 64 will need to work for at least 80 hours a month, or perform 80 hours of community service or be enrolled in an educational program, to qualify. The law allows various exemptions, including pregnancy, disabilities, or caring for children under the age of 19. <\/p>\n She estimated that 3 million Medi-Cal recipients could lose coverage as a result. <\/p>\n \u201cThis would significantly drive up the uninsured rate that raises cost for hospitals treating uninsured patients,\u201d Baass said.<\/p>\n Baass said HR 1, the \u201cBig, Beautiful Bill,\u201d also bans abortion providers from receiving federal Medicaid funding \u2014 even for healthcare services they offer that are not related to the procedure \u2014 and reduces federal dollars for emergency medical care for undocumented immigrants. It additionally limits state funding mechanisms, such as taxes paid by managed care providers, and establishes federal penalties for improper payments. <\/p>\n CalFresh, the state name for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is expecting long-term cuts of at least $1.7 billion annually, said Jennifer Troia, director of the California Department of Social Services. About 395,000 people could lose their benefits for government food assistance.<\/p>\n SNAP benefits are also being hit by the current government shutdown, with payments temporarily halting altogether in November. <\/p>\n At the heart of the shutdown is a political standoff in Washington over the expiring tax credits for people who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Democrats said they will not vote to reopen the government until Republicans agree to renew the expanded subsidies. Republican leaders refused to negotiate until Democrats vote to reopen the government.<\/p>\n Covered California, the state\u2019s Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace, estimated over the summer that as many as 660,000 of the roughly 2 million people in the program will either be stripped of coverage or drop out because of increased cost and the onerous new mandates to stay enrolled. <\/p>\n Effects of the new federal cuts and policies are already being felt across the state and nation. <\/p>\n A Planned Parenthood program in Orange and San Bernardino counties announced its imminent closure<\/a> earlier this month due to being federally defunded. Los Angeles County\u2019s health system has implemented a hiring freeze<\/a> and is bracing to lose $750 million per year for the county Department of Health Services, which oversees four public hospitals and roughly two dozen clinics. Meanwhile, food banks nationwide are seeking donations and preparing for longer lines. <\/p>\n Kim Johnson, secretary of the state Health and Human Services Agency, discussed how California is fighting back. <\/p>\n Newsom recently announced he is deploying the National Guard and fast-tracking $80 million to support food banks, she said. This came alongside the governor\u2019s decision to allocate $140 million in state funding to Planned Parenthood. <\/p>\n Johnson said Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has filed more than two dozen lawsuits related to HR 1. <\/p>\n \u201cHere in California,\u201d she said, \u201cwe will continue to mitigate the harm of these federal changes wherever we can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The state does not have the fiscal capacity to make up for the massive, oncoming federal cuts to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":340750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[49694,35814,9109,21591,12847,26865,167854,210,1141,29448,1142,70065,167855,18487,167853,10999,3546,290,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-340749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-billion","9":"tag-california-department","10":"tag-californians","11":"tag-coverage","12":"tag-dollar","13":"tag-federal-funding","14":"tag-federal-healthcare-cut","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-health-care","17":"tag-health-care-services","18":"tag-healthcare","19":"tag-hr","20":"tag-improper-payment","21":"tag-medi-cal","22":"tag-michelle-baass","23":"tag-million","24":"tag-people","25":"tag-state","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115457458567730392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}