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California voters overwhelmingly passed a ballot measure that increases pay
to doctors with Medi-Cal patients. The Newsom administration missed an
early deadline to begin implementing it.
Welcome to CalMatters, the only nonprofit newsroom devoted solely to
covering issues that affect all Californians. Sign up for WhatMatters to
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Golden State.
California voters told lawmakers last fall that they wanted doctors to get
paid more to see low-income patients. But officials for the Newsom
administration blew past a federal deadline to make that happen
through Medi-Cal Monday, effectively leaving millions of dollars
unclaimed.
The unclaimed money is tied to Proposition 35, a ballot measure passed by
68% of voters in November. The measure committed money from a special
tax on health insurance plans to increase payments to doctors and health
care facilities that treat low-income patients in Medi-Cal, the state’s
Medicaid program.
But first the state had to submit papers to the federal government for
approval. That deadline was March 31.
Missing the deadline means that, for the first quarter of the year, doctors
will not get the rate increases promised by the ballot measure. It also
means that California will lose federal matching dollars intended to boost
the Medi-Cal program during that time period.
The Department of Health Care Services, the agency that oversees Medi-
Cal and the implementation of Prop. 35 did not respond by publication
deadline to questions from CalMatters about why the state missed the
funding deadline.
In recent legislative hearings, Health Care Services Director Michelle Baass
stated that California’s federal application was delayed by unfilled
appointments on the advisory committee established by the ballot
measure to oversee spending.
Enough of those appointments were filled for the committee to legally
meet, but there is still one outstanding appointment. Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s office refused to respond to questions about why the
appointment has not been made. The committee is set to meet for the first
time April 14.
During a February hearing, another official for the health care services
department said the agency never believed it would be feasible for the
state to meet the March deadline.
