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What a 10% Cut Means to Health Care in California

By Hanh Kim Quach
Health Care Policy Coordinator
Health Access California

Judy Lin at the Sacramento Bee describes the budget situation, and anticipates the kinds of cuts that we will be facing.

If the Governor is serious about trying to solve this budget deficit through cuts alone, it's going to be very ugly, with a significant and dire human impact.

What does a 10% cut in health care--roughly a third of the state's budget--mean? Just for Medi-Cal, it sounds small, but:

• A 10% cut in Medi-Cal eligibility would mean denying coverage to 680,000 of the 6.8 million Californians on Medi-Cal--largely low-income children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities.

• A 10% cut in reimbursement rates in Medi-Cal would be hard, given that Medi-Cal has one of the lowest rates in the nation already (it's one of the things we are trying to fix with health care reform).

• A 10% cut in benefits would mean having to deny millions of people key services. In the previous budget crises, proposals called for denying coverage for a range of benefits in Medi-Cal, including coverage for prosthetic limbs, medical equipment like asthma inhalers and diabetic test strips, and durable medical equipment like wheelchairs.

Here's a comprehensive chart, a multi-year Health Budget Cuts Scorecard, of some of the cuts proposed, both those rejected and those actually made, during the last budget crisis of a few years ago.

In the New Year, we're going to have to be clear that these options are not acceptable, and force the conversation to include other options--including taxes and revenues.

This budget crisis can't be solved by cuts alone.

Hanh Kim Quach is the Health Care Policy Coordinator for Health Access California. Before joining the organization, she worked as a journalist for nearly 9 years, covering issues in California. Health Access California is a statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition of over 200 groups. This article has also been published on the Health Access Weblog.

Posted on December 29, 2007

Comments

WELL THE RICH GETS RICHER AND THE POOR GETS POORER
Arnold is the biggest joke of calif again

Posted by: rymc at January 3, 2008 09:34 AM

California already has some of the highest income and sales taxes in the country. So, how is it that other states with lower taxes manage to provide for their citizens? One answer is that they don't, at least not very well. Another possible answer, depending on the state, is that they have not attracted large numbers of vulnerable people, as California seems to have done.
Hanh Kim Quach will not get far just pleading for more money to ameliorate the symptoms of a problem whose root causes are not explored and addressed.
Why does California have so many vulnerable people? Who is responsible? How much of the problem is the result of business interests' influence on members of congress [Feinstein, McCain, Kemmedy], pressuring for cheap labor, with the external costs (health care, education, criminal justice) shoved off on the general public? Can you say AgJobs?
Why are so many people vulnerable? Could it be the result of high costs of housing - especially land - that result from excessive population?
During the Great Depression, many people had little money. But, in California, that little money went a long way. Housing could be had. And a half acre in Oakland could - and did - produce apples, apricots, nectarines, brocolli, carrots, almonds, chickens and eggs, rabbits, and firewood. With a few dollars for dry goods, and some basic pioneer skills that would enable a family of six to manage. Are there any home makers today who do not know how to make soap from lye and fat? Shame on them.
Californians are in a hole of their own digging, and it is time for them to stop digging, stop whining, and come up with real solutions, such as ceasing to provide incentives for vulnerable people to enter the state. Such as insisting that the Federal Government return 100% of California's share of Federal taxes.

Posted by: Erik Kengaard at January 5, 2008 12:59 PM

I AM A PHARMACY TECHNICIAN AT A PHARMACY IN A SMALL TOWN OF ABOUT PEOPLE. WE ARE HAVING TO TURN OUR MEDI-CAL PATIENTS AWAY. WE ARE TRANSFERRING THEIR RX'S TO CHAIN PHARMACIES BECAUSE CHAINS DONT CHECK WHAT THEY GET REIMBURSED. NO ONE IN A CHAIN PHARMACY IS RESPONSIBLE OR CARES HOW MUCH MONEY COMES IN OR OUT. THE NEAREST CHAIN IS IN ANOTHER TOWN. THIS HAS BEEN A NIGHTMARE AND I DONT KNOW HOW THE GOVERNOR SLEEPS AT NIGHT KNOWING HE'S CAUSING A GREAT DEPRESSION FOR MEDI-CAL PATIENTS. THEY CANT AFFORD TO DRIVE TO ANOTHER TOWN FOR THEIR RX'S. WE HAVE PATIENTS THAT HAVE BEEN HERE FOR 20 YEARS AND DELIVERY PATIENTS THAT CANT DRIVE OR DONT HAVE CARS. A CHAIN WONT PROVIDE THE SERVICE WE DO AS A COMMUNITY PHARMACY. SO WHAT DO ALL OF OUR DELIVERY PATIENTS DO TO GET TO THE NEXT TOWN TO GET THEIR RX'S. GOOD LOOKING OUT GOVERNOR THANKS FOR LOOKING OUT FOR THE LOWER AND MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE.

Posted by: SAMMIE at July 24, 2008 12:37 PM

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