California Plan To Move 880,000 Children Into Medi-Cal Met With Skepticism
A budget plan to save money by moving thousands of children into the Medicaid program is scrutinized while legislators scramble to draft companion legislation to implement the budget.
KQED: California Budget Proposal Would Move 880,000 Children Off Healthy Families
The Healthy Families program currently serves children whose families earn too much for Medi-Cal but might not otherwise access private insurance. … Because the Medi-Cal program is cheaper, [Governor Jerry] Brown's plan would save $73 million in 2013-2014 by shifting the children to that program. But advocates say this wouldn’t be the case, because of a related tax that only gets political support because of the Healthy Families program. The Sacramento Bee reports that it is a tax collected on managed care plans (Dornhelm, 6/26).
The Associated Press: Governor Faces Deadline On California Budget Plan
The governor and Democratic leaders had announced an agreement last week to restructure the state's welfare program, streamline health insurance for low-income children and reduce child care coverage and college aid. But Democrats who control the Legislature have been scrambling to draft companion legislation needed to implement the budget. They were scheduled to vote on some 20 so-called budget trailer bills Wednesday (Lin, 6/27).
