Medi-Cal Director Stepping Down
Stan Rosenstein last month announced that he is stepping down after 10 years as the director of Medi-Cal, the Sacramento Bee reports. Medi-Cal is California's Medicaid program, the largest in the nation.
Medi-Cal provides benefits to 6.5 million poor and disabled California residents and has an annual budget of $33 billion in state and federal funds. Thirty years ago, when Rosenstein began working for Medi-Cal, it had three million beneficiaries and a budget of about $3 billion.
Rosenstein says Medi-Cal offers more benefits to its recipients at lower costs per beneficiary than any other state's Medicaid program. For example, Medi-Cal has 55% more beneficiaries than New York but spends $10 billion less annually.
Rosenstein in January 2007 will leave his position to open a Sacramento office of Health Management Associates, a national consulting firm that specializes in public health insurance programs. State ethics rules will bar Rosenstein from "influencing" the Department of Health Services for one year (Benson, Sacramento Bee, 12/11).