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Privately insured to make up difference in Medi-Cal cuts, hospitals warn
| Monday, Jul 28 2008 5:47 PM
Last Updated: Tuesday, Jul 29 2008 7:24 AM
Private health insurance may provide help for what ails you. But there’s one thing it won’t make you immune to: the impact of recent Medi-Cal cuts.
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The $1.1 billion reductions to California’s safety net for the poor are having myriad effects, from the amount of time you have with your physician to Kern’s unemployment rate, local health providers said Monday.
“We have to shift the cost, and private insurance goes up,” said Russell Judd, CEO of Mercy Hospitals of Bakersfield. “It’s longer wait times (in the emergency departments). It’s poorer care.”
Several local hospital CEOs, physicians and community members joined together Monday to express how deeply the cuts impact them, in the hopes that community support will sway lawmakers to reconsider.
On July 1, reimbursements from Medi-Cal, which is California’s Medicaid program for low-income residents, were reduced by 10 percent to help make up for a $17 billion state shortfall.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger understands the devastating impact of the cuts, which is why he is still pushing for heath care and budget reform, said spokeswoman Lisa Page.
“Together these reforms will bring stability to Medi-Cal budgeting and ensure the state never has to make such drastic cuts again,” she said.
In the meantime, though — and especially until a state budget is passed — local health care workers and their patients will struggle, Judd said. On top of the cuts, Medi-Cal payments to hospitals and many physicians have ended due to the stalled budget.
“The system is fragile at best,” said Lynne Ashbeck, regional vice president of the Hospital Council of Northern and Central California.
The Medi-Cal cuts are expected to cost Kern $15.9 million for 2008, the council reports.
And don’t forget that hospitals have strong ties to the community, through the high number of people they employ, philanthropic efforts and focus on redevelopment and construction, which all could be impacted by the lost payments, Ashbeck said.
“It isn’t a commodity that people won’t need if it goes away,” Ashbeck said of health care. “As they struggle, we all struggle.”
As the cuts sink in, doctors will face two options: stop caring for Medi-Cal patients or see more patients in less time, said Dr. Jennifer Abraham, a private internal medicine physician who also works at Kern Medical Center.
“There’s only so much access, and when you affect access it affects us all,” she said.
The state hasn’t yet seen Medi-Cal providers drop out due to these “necessary” cuts, said Tony Cava, spokesman for the Department of Health Care Services, which manages Medi-Cal, the state’s second most expensive program.
For many services, the cuts put the reimbursement rates below the actual cost of care, Abraham said. Her office is at a $3 loss for every Medi-Cal patient it sees.
“Doctors cannot keep the doors open if they are fiscally hemorrhaging,” she said.