Initiatives Benefiting Medi-Cal May Succeed Where Doctors, Groups Have Failed Before
Providers, hospitals and others have been fighting to get more money for Medi-Cal, but have been thwarted by Gov. Jerry Brown. Now they hope voters will make it happen.
Capital Public Radio/KXJZ:
Brown's Resistance To Medi-Cal Rate Increases Spurs Ballot Push
Doctors, hospitals and health care advocacy groups are hoping two November ballot measures will do what they’ve been unable to do at the state Capitol: Bring more money to California’s health care program for the poor. The industry groups have tried for years to get more state funding for Medi-Cal – California’s version of Medicaid. They argue that as Medi-Cal’s population grows under the Affordable Care Act, there simply aren’t enough doctors willing to treat patients because the state’s payment rates are too low. But they’ve run into a roadblock. (Adler, 11/1)
In other 2016 election news —
California Healthline:
Maverick AIDS Activist To Porn Police? The Man Behind California’s Proposition 60
The man behind Proposition 60 — and all those billboards — is Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and a long-time maverick in gay activist circles. The nonprofit runs pharmacies and provides HIV care in 13 states and 37 countries, and gave away 38.5 million condoms last year. It’s putting $4.5 million from its pharmacy sales into backing the Proposition 60 condom mandate. (It also put $14.7 million behind Proposition 61, Weinstein’s initiative aimed at lowering drug prices.) Weinstein said he’s steadfastly promoting condoms when other groups seem to have forgotten them. (Dembosky, 11/2)
Orange County Register:
How Obamacare May Sway Voters In This Election
Polls have shown health care to be a far less important issue than the economy and foreign policy in the race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But as early voting and Election Day coincide with open enrollment for Medicare, Obamacare and employer-sponsored insurance, some Southern Californians are weighing the future of the nation’s health care system or their own out-of-pocket costs, as they cast their votes. (Perkes, 11/1)