What’s happening: As part of the American Hospital Association Annual Meeting held in Washington, D.C., this week, California hospital and health system leaders participated in more than 20 meetings with the California congressional delegation.
What else to know: Hospitals leaders’ message was clear — the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) under consideration will impede access to care for all Californians.
The meetings included members of the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees: Reps. Jay Obernolte (R), Scott Peters (D), Kevin Mullin (D), Mike Thompson (D), and Judy Chu (D). These committees will be instrumental in developing the reconciliation bill that could include cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Hospital and health system leaders also met with GOP Reps. Kevin Kiley, Young Kim, Doug LaMalfa, and Vince Fong, as well as Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla.
CHA is grateful for the participation of CHA Board of Trustees members Siri Nelson, CEO of Marshall Medical Center; Lori Morgan, MD, MBA, President & CEO of Huntington Health; Laureen Driscoll, chief executive of Providence South Division, California; and leaders from Community Health, Saint Agnes Medical Center, Scripps Health, CommonSpirit Health, El Camino Health, Providence, Stanford Health Care, Rady Children’s Hospital, and Adventist Health.
Talking points, infographics, recent studies, and press coverage around the considered changes to the Medicaid program are available on the CHA Federal Advocacy Resource page. Hospital leaders are encouraged to continue pressing these important messages as Congress deliberates.
