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Today, CHA member hospitals participated in a lobby action day in Sacramento to encourage legislators to ask the administration to reset the calculation of Proposition 55 funds. During the event, 20 hospital leaders met with key legislators and their staff, urging them to support the voters’ intent and direct crucial health care funding to Medi-Cal.
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| Standing, Sen. Jeff Stone (R – La Quinta). Left to right: Catherine Douglas, President and CEO, Private Essential Access Community Hospitals; John McCormick, President and CEO, Oak Valley Hospital District; Michael Hawkins, representing Tenet Healthcare; Maia Schneider, executive director of business development, Marshall Medical Center; Maria Sperber, CHA legislative advocate. |
Proposition 55 aimed to increase funding for Medi-Cal during good economic times. Hospital executives advocated that lawmakers act now to use the revenue to enhance Medi-Cal with one-time investments in programs such as behavioral health grants, graduate medical education, and increased payments for hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of Medi-Cal and the uninsured.
Passed by the voters in 2016, Proposition 55 extended the increased tax rate for high-income Californians in order to increase resources for public schools and provide adequate funding for essential health care services for children and families enrolled in the Medi-Cal program.
Currently, the funds are not available for Medi-Cal services. Today’s lobby action day allowed hospital executives to voice their concerns directly with decision makers.
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| Left to right: Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger); Nicette Short, legislative advocate, Noteware Government Relations; Amanda Frank, director of community relations, Dignity Health; Mira Morton, director of government relations, California Children’s Hospital Association. |