Lise Talbott: Even Denham’s ‘fixes’ will make the problem worse for those using Medi-Cal

Jeff Denham has introduced a new bill to increase Medi-Cal reimbursement rates. This is great news for healthcare providers, except that Jeff also voted for the American Health Care Act. This bill, along with the Senate Bill, cuts Medicaid payments to the states and caps total reimbursements. So, increasing reimbursement rates would spend down California’s money even faster. Imagine you have $100. You once paid $10 for a service, meaning you could get that service 10 times. But if the price doubles, you’d only be able to get that service five times. Fewer patients would be able to receive care. Access would be cut substantially. Jeff either doesn’t understand this, or doesn’t care.

This story was originally published June 29, 2017 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Lise Talbott: Even Denham’s ‘fixes’ will make the problem worse for those using Medi-Cal."