Docs, hospitals, unions unite to protest Calif. planned Medicaid cut

Jun 6 2013

Health care professionals -- doctors, hospitals and unionized health care workers -- protested planned cuts to California's Medicaid system -- Medi-Cal-- at the state capitol on Tuesday. They say the governor's proposed budget could shutter a medical center and force doctors to stop taking patients on the program.

The Associated Press: Health Care Providers Protest Medi-Cal Cuts
Health care providers rallying at the [California State] Capitol on Tuesday warned that a Central Valley medical center could shut down and doctors throughout California could stop accepting Medicaid patients if a state funding cut is not reversed. Thousands of people representing doctors, hospitals and unionized health care workers filled the Capitol grounds to rally against a 10 percent reduction in the amount the state pays for Medicaid reimbursements (6/5).

Sacramento Bee: Doctors, Hospitals, Unions Push To Stop Medi-Cal Cuts
Thousands of doctors, nurses, unionized health care workers and Medi-Cal patients flocked to the Capitol on Tuesday to protest possible cuts to the Medi-Cal program. Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget calls for a 10 percent reduction in payment to Medi-Cal providers, a move that opponents say would reduce the poorest patients' access to health care. So far, Brown has shown no signs of backing down from the proposed cut (Mantz, 6/5).

California Healthline: Budget Process Latest Way To Reverse Cuts
Thousands of providers, patients, health care professionals and other protesters are expected to gather [Tuesday] outside the Capitol Building to support the idea of reversing a 10 percent Medi-Cal provider rate cut. Organizers say it will be the largest health care protest in Sacramento history. … It has been a tough couple of weeks for proponents of reversing the rate cut made in 2011 and not yet implemented because of court battles. On May 24, the Ninth Circuit federal appeals court ruled the Medi-Cal cut to be legal, and lifted the injunctions on its implementation. That means the lawsuits to reverse the reduction now have only legal recourse, and that's an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court (Gorn, 6/4).