Latest California Healthline Stories
California Cities Gear Up To Vote on Ballot Initiatives To Tax Sugar-Sweetened Beverages
El Monte Planning Commissioner Art Barrios, Chuck Finnie of the Community Coalition Against Beverage Taxes, El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero and Richmond City Council member Jeff Ritterman spoke with California Healthline about local ballot measures that tax sugar-sweetened beverages.
Essential Benefits, Medical Review Change Passed
The countdown has begun. Only three more voting days till the end of California’s legislative year. The Legislature’s 2012 session ends on Friday, making this a busy week.
A number of health-related bills are among the hundreds of laws passed so far and headed to the governor’s desk (some of them are pending technical concurrence in the house of origin):
Ombudsman, Immunization Bills Up for Floor Vote
Dozens of health-related bills passed through committee last week, setting up pending floor votes starting this week.
The last hurdle for many bills is the appropriations committee of each house. Those committees ran at high speed last week, churning out approvals for hundreds of bills.
The Legislature has until the end of August to vote on all bills.
Some of the health-related bills that cleared committee last week:
Capitol Reacts to Budget, Reform Ruling
Health care issues took center stage in California for the past month — first, when budget pushback focused on health-related programs, and more recently, when the Supreme Court took a stand on legality of the federal health care reform law.
Here’s a taste of what California had to say about it all, culled from interviews, releases and a variety of media outlets:
State Proposes Delaying Start Date For Budget Cuts
The state is planning to delay the starting date for budget cuts by switching implementation from the start of the year to calendar year, according to a Department of Health Care Services summary of possible changes to trailer bill language for the May budget revision.
That’s one of many revisions outlined in the summary. The DHCS changes reflect input and concerns from stakeholders.
Healthy Families, Seniors Initiatives Questioned
In the governor’s May budget revision released this week, in addition to $2.5 billion in new cuts to health care in California, there were a couple of proposals that raised big red flags for many health care advocates.
In particular, two budget items took a lot of heat: the effort to move about 1 million dual-eligible Californians into managed care programs; and the state’s plan to move 870,000 children out of the Healthy Families program and into Medi-Cal care.
In both cases, advocates said the state is taking on way too much, too quickly — putting the two most vulnerable populations in California at real risk.
Senate Committee Rejects Care Changes
The Senate Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services last week voted to reject a proposal to change some nursing home and hospital regulations.
That happened before this week’s release of Gov. Jerry Brown’s new budget proposal that includes a slew of budget reductions to hospitals and nursing homes.
Hearings on the latest round of cuts — including $2.5 billion in reductions to health care programs in California — are scheduled to start today when the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services holds its first budget revise hearing. According to chair Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), it will be the 18th hearing of that subcommittee this year alone.
May Budget Revise Hits Health Care Hard
Health care reductions made up more than one-third of the additional $6.5 billion Governor Jerry Brown (D) needed to trim since the last budget proposal in January. Five months ago, the governor was only staring down a $9.2 billion deficit. Now it’s estimated at $15.7 billion.
Brown’s new proposal released yesterday included about $2.5 billion in cost reductions to health care programs.
The plan calls for new cuts for hospitals and nursing homes, more cutbacks in Medi-Cal services and another reduction to In-Home Supportive Services.
May Budget Revise Hits Health, Human Services
Governor Jerry Brown’s May revision of the state budget released this morning includes about $2.5 billion in cost-saving measures to health care programs.
“They’re pretty serious cuts,” Brown said today. “Cuts to Medi-Cal, to hospitals, to nursing homes, to CalWORKS, this is all very real. But California has been living beyond its means, and it has to be balanced at the day of reckoning. This is the day of reckoning.”
According to the Democratic governor’s proposed budget, $1.2 billion in cost-reduction will come from Medi-Cal, about $880 million from CalWORKS, $225 million from In-Home Supportive Services and about $161 million from other health care programs, such as the AIDS Drug Assistance Program.
New Budget to Hit Health Care Programs?
Before Governor Jerry Brown (D) came out with the January budget, some in the health care community speculated that new budget cuts wouldn’t hit health programs — because there wasn’t much left that could be cut back.
But that proved untrue, when reductions hit Medi-Cal, Healthy Families and In-Home Supportive Services.