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.”
Key Health Investments to be Heard in CA Budget Committees Starting This Week
Big health reforms, from major expansions of access and affordability to efforts to control costs and improve quality and equity, will be heard in the California Legislature starting tomorrow, as hearings begin on the Governor Gavin Newsom ‘s $286.4 billion state budget for 2022-23. The hearings will discuss historic steps to close coverage gaps and bring California to near-universal health coverage. These hearings will debate what is in the current budget proposal, but also areas where the state can improve, or take additional steps to strengthen our health care system.
HEALTH ACCESS: Updated Health Access Report Points to Success for New National Law Against Surprise Medical Bills Now in Effect
On the week that new federal rules go into effect to prevent patients from getting surprise medical bills, consumer advocacy group Health Access California releases an updated report on the California experience of a similar state law. The report shows the laws success in protecting patients from unexpected out-of-network bills as well as inflated premiums from provider overcharging with no indication of negative impacts on network size or patient access to care.
2021 Year In Review: Major CA Health Reforms to Last Even Beyond the Pandemic
Despite the ongoing challenges through the pandemic, this was a major year of health reform in California. Health Access was proud to champion and collaborate on a number of historic investments in the state budget and reforms through legislation in 2021—victories that provided new coverage to hundreds of thousands, and new financial assistance to many […]
California Health Consumers to Benefit as U.S. House Passes Build Back Better Bill
On Friday, November 19th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act, with 42 California congressmembers voting to advance the historic legislation that would help lower health care costs and otherwise make investments to improve our health care system. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration, and would come back […]