Medi-Cal Faces $1.5B in Cuts Under Bush Spending Proposal
President Bush's proposed federal budget would cut federal funding for Medi-Cal by $1.5 billion over three years, according to the California Hospital Association, the Los Angeles Daily News reports (Friedman, Los Angeles Daily News, 2/5).
The budget includes about $78.6 billion in Medicare and Medicaid savings and revisions to federal regulations for an additional $22.9 billion in savings from the programs (California Healthline, 2/5).
Analysts say the proposed cuts also could impact Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) health care reform proposal, which relies on Medi-Cal funds (Los Angeles Daily News, 2/5).
Schwarzenegger has said that he would seek $3.7 billion in additional federal funds to cover the estimated $12 billion cost of the California proposal in the first year. California officials maintain that the state should receive almost all of the additional federal funds under current Medicaid and SCHIP program rules (California Healthline, 1/30).
A new Medicaid rule that will cap reimbursements to public hospitals annually would cut $200 million in federal funding for Los Angeles County public hospitals and more than $500 million for hospitals statewide (Los Angeles Daily News, 2/5).