As federal lawmakers scramble to pass a funding measure that would avert a government shutdown when the current spending plan expires Sept. 30, several key issues affecting hospitals are in play.
California’s 2025 legislative session ends tomorrow, and while much of the recent focus has been at the federal level — working to fend off record health care cuts enacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — at the state level, the past nine months have been dominated by a series of important bills with a California footprint.
Time is running short for California hospitals to submit their inaugural Hospital Equity Measures Report, as legislation passed in 2021 mandates that the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) receive the reports by Sept. 30.
As the state’s hospital and health system leaders just begin to grapple with the massive health care cuts enacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) — as much as $128 billion drained from California over the next decade — another threat from Washington, D.C., has emerged.
In remarks that are as baffling as they are dangerous, many Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) board members are doubling down on an arbitrary, accelerated, and punitive process to drain hospitals of resources needed for patient care.
“Most people don’t listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply.”
— Stephen Covey
Late last week, California’s largest health care union filed paperwork with the Office of the Attorney General to add a ballot measure to next year’s election that would cap compensation packages for hospital and medical group leaders at $450,000.
A recent KFF poll underscores the public’s persistent and growing frustration with how profit-driven insurance companies create barriers in accessing health care services. Now, as providers look to transform health care delivery to be more efficient following sweeping federal funding cuts, insurance companies, too, must find better ways to serve patients.
Less than three weeks ago, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed into law, enacting the largest health care cuts in the nation’s history and signifying a new era for how care will be paid for and delivered in America.
Many conversations are underway about the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the new law that includes the largest health care cuts in U.S. history — $1 trillion over the next decade.
