If Passed, GOP Health Plan Could Cost California $6 Billion A Year By 2020 In Medi-Cal Funding
That annual loss could balloon to $24.3 billion by 2027, according to a state analysis, as federal funding for low-income health coverage is cut under the current bill.
San Francisco Chronicle:
GOP Health Care Bill Would Send California’s Costs Skyrocketing
The Republican-backed bill that would overhaul the Affordable Care Act would shift billions of dollars in health care costs from the federal government to states, with California on the hook for $6 billion in 2020 and growing to $24.3 billion by 2027, according to an analysis released Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration. Nearly 14 million Californians, one in three adults and half the state’s children, are covered by Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the federal Medicaid program. Four-million residents enrolled through the Affordable Care Act. It’s unclear how the state would deal with the added costs under the bill — whether through new taxes, cuts to other state services or by dropping coverage or enrollees in the program. (Gutierrez, 3/22)
The Mercury News:
GOP Health Plan Would Be Devastating For Poor, California Officials Say
With House Republicans poised to vote Thursday to dismantle the Affordable Care Act by replacing it with a pared-down health plan, a new California analysis reveals that the substitute would severely impact the state’s ability to pay for health care for its poorest residents. The study released Wednesday by the Department of Health Care Services and Department of Finance shows that California would lose almost $6 billion in federal Medicaid funding in 2020 — a figure that would increase to $24.3 billion annually by 2027 if the GOP plan is passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump. (Seipel, 3/22)
The Associated Press:
California Warns Trump Health Care Bill Would Cost State Billions
In their first detailed analysis of the bill’s impacts on Medi-Cal, state officials said lawmakers would eventually have to decide whether to spend additional money on the program that provides health coverage for the poor. They may have to cut costs by covering fewer people, reducing their benefits or paying less to doctors and hospitals. (3/22)
Fresno Bee:
Low-Income Californians Will Be Hit Hard By Proposed American Health Care Act Changes
The federal health care plan being pushed by President Trump that would repeal the Affordable Care Act would have devastating effects financially to the medical safety net and on people’s health in the central San Joaquin Valley, said dozens who spoke at a state Assembly Health Care Committee hearing at Fresno City Hall on Wednesday. From a self-employed couple who got health care through Covered California (the state’s health care exchange) to mothers of severely handicapped adult children on Medi-Cal, people lined up at the three-hour hearing to express their concern over the potential passage of the proposed American Health Care Act. (Anderson, 3/22)
Gov. Jerry Brown travels to D.C. to lobby for California's interests in the debate —
Los Angeles Times:
With His Governing Legacy On The Line, Gov. Jerry Brown Dives In To Washington's Healthcare Debate
The oratory that made Gov. Jerry Brown a rising political star in his youth returned on Wednesday as he joined Democrats on Capitol Hill in rebuking President Trump and congressional Republicans for efforts to dismantle the nation’s sweeping, 7-year-old healthcare law. Brown’s fury, though, had some extra fuel: A new analysis by his advisors showed that the GOP effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would blow a $6-billion hole in California’s budget in just three years, a significant threat to the governor’s legacy as the architect of the state’s newfound fiscal stability. (Myers, 3/22)