California wants to pay doctors more money to see Medicaid patients

Optometrist Hunter Morgan poses in his offices on Friday, March 1, 2024, in Encinitas, Calif. When Morgan bought an optometry practice in San Diego three years ago, one of the first things he did was start accepting patients who were enrolled in Medicaid the government-funded health insurance program for the poor and the disabled. Just five months later, Morgan said, he had to stop treating Medicaid patients because of the paltry pay.

Health care providers have been clamoring for California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, to pay them more. But California doesn’t have extra money thanks to back-to-back multibillion-dollar. To pay doctors more, Newsom and the state Legislature chose to raise taxes — but not in the way you might think.

Last year Newsom signed a law that greatly increased this tax. It means the state will get $19.4 billion through 2026. On Thursday the Legislature is scheduled to vote to increase it again, generating an estimated $1.5 billion more. How much, and who will get it, will be fully decided this year. The first increases last year went to primary care doctors, maternity care and some mental health services. This year’s increases, which have not yet been approved by the Legislature, would include things like obstetric, vaccine and abortion services — and optometry.

“If things really did get bad, I think, they could use the money for other purposes," said Kristine Schultz, executive director of the California Optometric Association. “It’s a real concern,” said Stuart Thompson, senior vice president for governmental affairs for the California Medical Association, during a recent public hearing before lawmakers. “We don’t want to create a scenario in which we have a program that goes for four years and then we reach the cliff.”

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

California wants to pay doctors more money to see Medicaid patientsCalifornia wants to pay doctors more money to convince them to see more Medicaid patients
Source: sdut - 🏆 5. / 95 Read more »

Los Angeles, California job with University of Southern California CCMB Dechen Lin LabWe are seeking 2 highly motivated postdoctoral fellows with background in either bioinformatics, cancer biology, epigenomics, immunology, or metabolism to join our NIH-funded laboratory at Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California.
Source: Nature - 🏆 64. / 68 Read more »

Democrats losing their hold on California and California losing its hold on America Democrats are losing ground in California as California loses population to other states.
Source: dcexaminer - 🏆 6. / 94 Read more »

CSU student assistants vote to unionizeCalifornia State University student assistants voted Friday to join the California State University Employees Union (CSUEU).
Source: NBCLA - 🏆 319. / 59 Read more »

Senate Medicaid ‘expansion light’ would insure fewer than House plan, turn down federal moneySenate's long-awaited proposal would forgo hundreds of millions of federal dollars available to cover working poor in Mississippi.
Source: MSTODAYnews - 🏆 275. / 63 Read more »

Pastor Collapses at Mississippi State Capitol While Advocating for Medicaid ExpansionA minister collapsed at the Mississippi State Capitol while advocating for Medicaid expansion. He was rushed to the hospital but was resuscitated and is now with his family.
Source: MSTODAYnews - 🏆 275. / 63 Read more »