Reform & Coverage
Tens of Thousands of Young Adult Californians Will Keep Health Coverage Under New DHCS Action
Health, community, and immigrant rights advocates applaud the action taken today by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) to prevent tens of thousands of Californians from being dropped from Medi-Cal coverage.
SB 644
California Makes History By Becoming the First State to Provide Access to Health Care for All Income-Eligible Residents, Regardless of Immigration Status
With last night’s announcement of the state budget agreement, California makes history as the first state to agree to fully remove exclusions for Medi-Cal (California’s version of Medicaid) coverage for all who are income-eligible, regardless of age or immigration status. The final 2022-23 State Budget closes the gap in coverage for approximately 700,000 undocumented Californians ages 26-49, the last remaining age group to be excluded from accessing comprehensive Medi-Cal coverage, starting no later than January 1, 2024. This is expected to lead to the largest drop in the rate of uninsured Californians in a decade.
New Budget Deal to Extend Major Help to Afford Health Care for Millions of Californians
A statement by Anthony Wright, executive director, Health Access California, the statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition, on the announcement of a California state budget deal between Governor Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders, and the impact on Californians accessing and affording health care and coverage:
New #CABudget Deal Extends Major Help to Afford Health Care to Millions of Californians
The Governor and Legislature announced a final deal on the California state budget late yesterday, including some major investments in a variety of health and human services. We greatly appreciate that this state budget deal includes crucial commitments to improve health care access and affordability for Californians, providing real relief to many immediately, with the […]
CA Health Consumer Advocates Respond to Legislative State Budget Agreement
Below is a statement from Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, the statewide health care consumer advocacy coalition, on the just announced 2022 – 2023 state budget agreement between the California State Senate and Assembly:
Governor’s May Revision Take Steps on Health Affordability–But Legislature Should Do More
Governor Gavin Newsom released his May Revision of a $300 billion state budget, which continues to propose major steps to expand health care coverage, and included some new investments, including to ensure Californians keep the coverage as the public health emergency unwinds. Building on these proposals and given the urgent needs, health and community advocates urged the Legislature to take quicker and additional steps to address health affordability.
JOINT STATEMENT: Consumer Advocates Respond to Kaiser Medi-Cal Contract Announcement
Two leading health and consumer advocate organizations have released the following statement in response to the recently announced Medi-Cal contract between the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) and Kaiser Permanente.
“Health and consumer advocates have been strong supporters of the state’s proposal to recontract with all the managed care plans in our Medi-Cal program. It’s been decades since this re-contracting process has been done, and we have urged the state to hold all plans to higher standards for quality and equity for the over 14 million Californians who depend on Medi-Cal for their care. These standards should include Kaiser, which has avoided a statewide contract to date, and push them to do more in Medi-Cal.”