DAVIS BUDGET: FY 2000 Proposal Plays with Health Funding
The California Budget Project's Budget Watch reports that Gov. Gray Davis' state budget plan for next year assumes that Medi-Cal caseloads will decrease, Healthy Families enrollment will increase and federal health funding will rise. Specific health-related proposals include:
- Healthy Families: As reported, Davis would increase the program's funding by $33.7 million, including $2.7 million to expand coverage to families earning up to 250% of the federal income level. The budget assumes enrollment will increase from 138,000 at the end of this year to 304,000 children by the end of 2000, and instructs health officials to look into allowing local Proposition 10 funds to provide Healthy Families coverage to children ages five and under.
- Prenatal Care: Davis' budget would reinstate full funding for prenatal and long-term care for undocumented immigrants.
- Medi-Cal: The budget assumes the state will retain $210 million in savings, mostly from the federal government paying a larger share of Medi-Cal. In addition, the budget assumes $69 million in savings due to a 1% drop in Medi-Cal roles related to declining CalWORKS numbers.
- Family Planning: Davis' plan also expects a 90%, or $122 million, federal reimbursement for the cost of the Family PACT program, which provides reproductive services to residents who earn up to 200% of the federal poverty level (1/99 issue).