With 13.5 Million On Medi-Cal, California Has Greatest Stakes In ACA’s Future
If the health law is dismantled, California would have to decide whether to kick millions off the Medi-Cal rolls or cover them with state tax money.
Sacramento Bee:
California Has Big Stake In Obamacare’s Future
Today, with Republicans poised to take control of the White House and Congress and promising to repeal Obamacare, 13.5 million Californians have Medi-Cal coverage, a 71 percent expansion since 2014 and more than a third of the state’s population... It means that California has, by far, the greatest stakes in the forthcoming battle over whether Obamacare lives or dies. And if its fate is the latter, California would have to decide whether to kick millions off the Medi-Cal rolls or cover them with state tax money.A new report from the California Budget and Policy Center, which advocates for programs serving the poor, contains a county-by-county breakdown of those stakes.It reveals, not surprisingly, that rural counties with the state’s highest levels of unemployment and poverty, have the most to lose. (Walters, 11/29)