Legislators Hope To Restore Medi-Cal Provider Cut, Boost Access to Care

In a California Healthline report by Deirdre Kennedy, experts discussed the impacts of a large Medi-Cal provider rate cut, and the legislative attempt to reverse it.

California has some of the lowest Medicaid provider rates in the nation, and that was true even before lawmakers ordered another 10% reduction in 2011. That low reimbursement rate could affect access to care in California, if providers stop seeing new Medi-Cal patients — particularly since the state expects to add another 2 million covered patients under Medi-Cal expansion.

One piece of legislation was recently introduced to erase that cut, and a second bill would temporarily extend a bump in primary care provider rates, up to Medicare levels for a year.

The report includes comments from:

• Mari Cantwell, Chief Deputy Director of the Department of Health Care Services for Health Care Programs;
• H.D. Palmer, Deputy Director for External Affairs at the California Department of Finance;
• Nancy Skinner, California Assembly member (D-Berkeley); and
• Richard Pan, California Assembly member (D-Sacramento).

In addition, this report received background information on the issue from Anthony Wright, Executive Director for Health Access California, a health care consumer advocacy coalition (Kennedy, California Healthline, 3/12/14).

You can download a PDF transcript of this report.