Medi-Cal faces new federal govt cuts
3 Comments Published by clay November 25th, 2007 in State and Local Politics.Law passes in the U.S. Congress (Washington DC) that will cut Medi-Cal in Calfornia
California health officials, who are already contesting a half dozen Bush administration rule changes that would cost the state millions of dollars in Medicaid funding, have another pressing concern.
Under the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, the agency that runs Medicaid is proposing to trim money used by
The proposed $4 billion in cuts to states for Targeted Case Management programs comes on top of $11 billion that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimates it would save as a result of the six rules changes the agency has proposed in the past year.
Stan Rosenstein, director of Medi-Cal, California’s version of Medicaid, said the state has not tabulated how much funding it would lose if the latest cuts were implemented – but it would be a substantial amount.
“It’s a reduction in real important health care services to some of our most vulnerable populations,” Rosenstein said.
While most programs under Medi-Cal, which serves nearly 7 million low-income, elderly and disabled Californians, are available to anyone who qualifies, Targeted Case Management programs are aimed at at-risk groups.
Among those served are pregnant women and infants, the elderly who cannot care for themselves, the mentally disabled, foster children and adult probationers who receive substance abuse treatment.
Medicaid provides one dollar for each dollar that states and counties in
In
this is one of the saddest articles i’ve ever read. why would the government think about cutting funding from the people who need it the most. these people have practically no typ of income to live off of and/or are prohibitted from working either from mental conditions or restricted with responisibilities. for instance the people with Alzheimer’s disease who cant, in some cases, remember their own name or where they live. while the pregnant women that are either living off their parents or have to go onto medical release but have no other source of income, have to pay for their bills and their medical bills, especially when they have a baby on the way or already have it.
it seems to me like this country puts their responsibilities in the wrong places, that celebreties and sports athletes get more in one year than some might bearly earn in five years. also that government officials have to cheat their way to the top for all the wrong reasons, leaving us with their bad choices.
we cant cut off the funding for the people that suffer the most for our raising prices. these people need our help and its not called a problem solver if it causes more problems.
I must say that I not only agree with the budget cuts, but feel that it should be abolished altogether. After speaking leading Kaiser Permanente partners and M.D.s i found that they also believe this. To have state issues health care would result in a lack of competition and greatly diminish the quality of health care offered. On top of that, i do not agree with giving my money to people I don’t know so that they can have something that I worked for. I would never dream of asking for money no matter how elderly i was. I plan on saving my money so that I can someday support myself. I believe that we are responsible for our own money, not the state. Its like having someone else tell you how to raise your child, it is just wrong. The government should back off and allow the people to allocate their funds how they please.
Cutting the budget for healthcare is always a bad thing. People need this and by cutting it your basically sacrificing them if they can’t pay up. I know that some of the money you pay for healthcare goes to providing for people who can’t pay. It seems like a hassle but think about all the people that really need help but can’t pay for it. Cutting budgets is a hard thing to do because theres so many factors but i personally wouldn’t have cut something as important as health. Come on, this helps infants and the elderly why would you cut that.