Urge Legislature to Increase Funding for Equitable Care, Invest in Health Care Workforce

  • Ryan Witz

    Group Vice President, Policy

  • Kathryn Austin Scott

    Senior Vice President, State Relations and Advocacy

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

CHA Alert Banner

Action needed: 

Write to Assembly and Senate leaders and ask them to support budget proposals that would increase access to equitable health care for Medi-Cal beneficiaries, add funding to the state’s Medi-Cal graduate medical education (GME) program, and make other major investments in the state’s health care workforce. CHA has developed two template letters about the proposals for your use —one for the Assembly and for the Senate. Please send your letters to Emily Schroeder at eschroeder@calhospital.org.

Timing:

Please send your letters by May 9.

Background:

  • Increasing Health Equity in Medi-Cal: Medi-Cal provides health coverage to low-income Californians — one-third of the entire state and nearly half of all children — and those who rely on Medi-Cal coverage are disproportionately people of color (two-thirds are non-white). But those who care for Medi-Cal patients are reimbursed just 74 cents for every dollar they spend providing care, resulting in fewer resources for California’s most vulnerable communities. CHA’s proposal would unfreeze Medi-Cal APR-DRG rates from 2012-13 levels; create new, annual payment adjustments to account for patients’ social and environmental challenges; and convert public hospitals’ Medi-Cal fee-for-service inpatient reimbursement to a value-based structure that includes state General Fund support. 
  • Expanding Medi-Cal GME: Because it is vital to the health of Californians to further fund programs that train doctors across the state, CHA’s proposal would expand the Medi-Cal GME program to include private and district hospitals and commit state General Fund dollars to support these programs. 
  • Supporting the Health Care Workforce: After nearly two years of fighting the pandemic, California’s hospitals are facing persistent staffing challenges. The governor has included almost $2 billion in workforce training and supports for health care providers to recruit and retain workers across hospital and health care settings.