Doctors And Other Health Care Providers To Testify At Hearing Monday About Devastating Cuts To Medi-Cal
"Access to care for these low-income families is in serious jeopardy because the rates in effect right now don't even cover the cost of care. Reduced access means more patients will seek care in more expensive emergency rooms, increasing costs and wait times for everyone," said Richard Frankenstein, president of the California Medical Association. Furthermore, cutting Medi-Cal dollars means California will receive fewer federal matching funds. "It makes no sense to leave federal dollars on the table when they could go to pay for health care for low-income Californians," Dr. Frankenstein said.
The CMA is part of the Alliance for Patient Care, a broad coalition of health care providers and patient groups that advocates for greater access to care for California's most vulnerable patients in the Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs. More information is available at the APC website: http://www.allianceforpatientcare.org
Under current Medi-Cal rates, a primary care office visit goes for about $20, for example, which doesn't cover the costs of a physician's overhead, time, or other expenses.
The proposed cuts to health care, which slash $2 billion from the budget, disproportionately impact California's most vulnerable patients - seniors, those in foster care, the poor, disabled, and chronically ill - who are least able to access health care. Additionally, important services such as home health care and dental and eye care would be cut. Reductions in these services, particularly for chronically ill patients, will force many of these patients into long-term facilities and hospitals, where the care is even more expensive.
Despite continual increases in health care costs, rates paid to providers have not kept pace with the costs of providing care. Cuts of this magnitude have not been proposed in recent memory.
The California Medical Association represents 35,000 California physicians in all modes or practice and specialties.
California Medical Association
Medicii ºi alte furnizorii de servicii de sãnãtate pentru a depune mãrturie luni de la audiere despre devastatoare reduceri pentru a Medi-Cal - Doctors And Other Health Care Providers To Testify At Hearing Monday About Devastating Cuts To Medi-Cal - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate