California Health Care Providers at Odds with the State over Cuts
Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
A group of California health care providers is presently at odds with the state over health payment cuts. Last February, in a move to control the state’s budget, California’s governor signed a law that reduces health care payments by 10 percent. This translates to a whopping 1.3 billion dollars to be taken out from the Medi-Cal program by July 1st. (Medi-Cal program is the name given to California’s Medicaid.)
MedicalNewsToday.com reports that the health care providers took legal action in response to this. A “class action” lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against the state in an attempt to prevent the implementation of the said law.
As I see it, reducing health care payments has put the government of California in a bad light. For one, the cut will make it hard for health care providers to serve more people given their limited resources. Another thing is, Medi-Cal itself will find it difficult to discharge its duties given the tension between the government and its health care provider- partners.
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