Affordability

About Affordability

Health care is a basic human need, one that Californians rely on to live, grow, and prosper. Unfortunately, the cost of care has become too high for many working families. For years, California’s hospitals have made headway toward controlling costs. To ensure care for every Californian, the entire health care field must tighten its belt — insurance companies, physicians, labor unions, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and more.

Improving affordability is a priority for California hospitals — but with nearly two-thirds of health care spending occurring outside of hospitals, solving this challenge will take a combined effort from the entire health care system. To move toward our shared goals of affordable, equitable, and high-quality health care, hospitals work closely with the Office of Health Care Affordability.

OHCA Board Continues Enforcement Discussion, Fails to Clarify Process

What’s happening: The Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) board convened on Oct. 28 and continued the spending target enforcement discussion that began in July. The meeting focused on waivers from enforcement and the first two steps of the enforcement process (technical assistance and public testimony).  

Key Priorities for 2026 Shaping Up

As your association looks to the coming year to advance policies that support the critical services California hospitals provide, three key areas are coming into sharper focus: 

Courts Must Intervene to Protect Californians’ Health Care

Yesterday, CHA took a critical step to push back on actions taken by the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) that are threatening access to care, putting health care workers’ jobs in jeopardy, impeding efforts to improve health equity, and risking the quality of care Californians receive. 

2025 Hospital Finance & Reimbursement Conference

What’s happening: On Nov. 3-4, California hospital finance experts will gather at CHA’s members-only Hospital Finance & Reimbursement Conference to examine the fiscal impact of state and federal regulations and policies on hospitals.  

OHCA Violated State Law, Ignored Mandate to Consider Impact of Decisions on Health Care Access, Workers, and More: Hospital Association Lawsuit

SACRAMENTO (Oct. 15, 2025) — California’s Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) has violated state law by setting caps on the resources hospitals have available to care for patients, as it ignored a clear legislative mandate to safeguard access to care, protect health care workers, improve health equity, and preserve or enhance the quality of care. 

New Dashboard Allows Hospitals to Show the Local Harms of OHCA Spending Limits

What’s happening: CHA has created an interactive dashboard tool to help members see the local impact of the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) hospital spending caps. The tool allows members to filter by California Assembly, Senate, or congressional district to visualize the potential losses in hospital revenue, jobs, and local economic activity by 2029...