First off, Medi-Cal payments are the lowest in country and now the budget to cut by an additiona10% is proposed? Right now it’s hard for people to find a doctor that takes Medi-Cal in the state. The one outstanding exception is if you are a pregnant 
woman and they pay well on that one item as I had client a few years ago and that was he did, obgyn and then once the baby was delivered and follow up care was done, he was done, in other words baby deliveries only an no well woman follow up, etc.
The next item is to limit 10 visits a year and there’s both sides to this and for the normal person this could be about right and how one would enforce an emergency for visit #11 is something we can work with as humans I think. There are those that visit the doctor all the time and don’t belong there as they come in for every small issue and I have spoken to physicians that see patients like this, why, because it is free. Six non emergency prescriptions a month seems fair and there are people that see the doctor that get prescriptions for aspirin and the reason for this is that they don’t pay for it and there are those who abuse it.
Co-payments being added may be tough, and not so much the $5 office visit, but the $100 a day for the hospital and $50 for the ER room visit might be hard and would physicians have to deny care if patient can’t pay? This and the 10% cut for MDs is tough. BD
The governor's proposed budget cuts more holes in California's tattered health care safety net. Medi-Cal currently covers 7.7 million Californians and enrollment is expected to grow by 1.5 - 2 million after the implementation of federal health reform.
Even at current rates, most physicians lose money treating Medi-Cal patients. As a result, it is nearly impossible to find physicians accepting new Medi-Cal patients in certain specialties. If these cuts are allowed to take place, these access problems will only be exacerbated. When Medi-Cal patients can't find a doctor, many will end up in the emergency room, the most costly and least efficient venue for Medi-Cal patients to receive treatment.
"With California's Medi-Cal rates already among the lowest in the nation, California's health care safety net cannot sustain these drastic cuts," said CMA President James G. Hinsdale, M.D. "CMA will continue to fight for physicians and work to preserve access to care for California's low-income populations."
Governor Brown's proposed budget would dramatically cut health and human services
Going to be hard to see as many Medi-Cal patients with a 10% cut to reimbursement. Many docs in my area don't take Medi-Cal anymore, and these cuts will further reduce access to care.
ReplyDeleteI have been looking for a text transcript of the Governor's proposal so I can see exactly what's getting cut.