Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
California Wants Medicaid Coverage Regardless Of Immigration Status
The Wall Street Journal: California Would Expand Medicaid To People In U.S. Illegally Under Gavin Newsom Proposal
California would become the first state to provide access to its Medicaid program to all low-income residents, regardless of immigration status, under a proposal unveiled Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The plan is part of a $286.4 billion budget plan the Democrat has proposed that also includes billions of dollars in investments for the state’s wildfire response, homelessness and drought assistance. (Mai-Duc, 1/10)
Los Angeles Times: California Could Remove Medi-Cal Immigration Status Rules
California would allow all income-eligible residents to qualify for the state’s healthcare program for low-income people regardless of immigration status under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal unveiled Monday. Newsom’s plan calls for the state to spend $2.2 billion a year to close the final gap in Medi-Cal eligibility after years of incremental progress toward offering coverage to people living in the country illegally by first allowing children and seniors to qualify. (Gutierrez, 1/10)
AP: Universal Health Care Proposal Gets First Test In California
California lawmakers on Tuesday will start debating whether to create the nation’s first universal health care system, a key measure of whether the proposal has the support to pass this year. Progressives have tried for years to create a government-funded universal health care system to replace the one that relies on private insurance. Voters overwhelmingly rejected a 1994 ballot initiative that would have created a universal health care system. Another attempt passed the state Senate in 2017, but it died in the state Assembly with no funding plan attached to it. (Beam, 1/11)
KHN: Clinics Say California’s New Medicaid Drug Program Will Force Them To Cut Services
California’s sweeping new program to buy prescription drugs for its nearly 14 million Medicaid patients has alarmed health clinics that say they will lose money and have to cut services. Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged Monday that some clinics, which serve the poorest Californians, would lose funding, and he included $105 million for them in the 2022-23 proposed state budget he unveiled in the state capital. (Young, 1/10)
And more from California —
San Francisco Chronicle: Newsom Wants To Use California’s $46 Billion Surplus To Combat Homelessness, Wildfires And Other Crises
Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a budget Monday that would use California’s repeat surplus to help combat the thorniest problems facing the Bay Area and the state, from a lack of affordable housing to growing street encampments to organized retail theft. Newsom proposes spending tens of billions of dollars from the state’s $286.4 billion budget to confront disparities laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic. His plan calls for $2 billion in new funding to provide housing for mentally ill people and to clear homeless encampments, which comes on the heels of record spending for unhoused people in the current budget. He also proposes $2 billion in grants and tax credits to speed up construction of affordable housing. (Gardiner and Garofoli, 1/10)
AP: California Governor Proposes Tax Cuts, Expanded Health Care
With state revenues at an all-time high, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday proposed a budget that would cut taxes while also promising to pay the health care expenses of all of the state’s low-income adults who are living in the country illegally. It will cost state taxpayers about $2.2 billion per year to cover the cost of health care for the state’s low-income immigrants. Meanwhile, Newsom’s tax cuts would reduce revenue by more than $6.5 billion. (Beam, 1/11)
