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Budget Information and Analysis – 2012 -13 Session
Governor Brown calls for deep cuts in child welfare and November tax initiative on ballot to close budget gap. Click HERE for the MCHA budget brief.
Budget Information and Analysis – 2010 -11 Session
Governor Schwarzenegger releases “May Revise” to close budget gap of 19.1 billion through cuts and accounting shifts, but “no new taxes”
The draconian budget released Friday, May 14 by the governor would slash social services and health care for those most affected by the worldwide recession. Once again the governor is proposing to eliminate CalWORKs, the state's welfare-to-work program, and most child care for the poor. He would freeze funding for local schools, further cut state workers' pay and take away 60% of state money for local mental health programs. The proposed budget would further cut services for Medi-Cal beneficiaries and impose co-payments on adults AND children that would require a federal waiver. Click HERE to see MCHA’s analysis.
Per Assembly Speaker Pérez's direction, the Assembly now broadcasts Budget Committee Hearings on the web. Please refer to the Assembly Video and Audio Broadcasts for Committee Hearings. For more detailed budget analysis, see: Western Center on Law and Poverty, “The Governor’s Proposed Budget Would Decimate California’s Safety Net for Poor Families and Put Medi-Cal Health Services Out of Reach”
Adult Medi-Cal beneficiaries to get notices - reductions in benefits
The State Department of Health Care Services will begin sending notices in 13 threshold languages to ALL Medi-Cal beneficiaries 21 and older about reductions in Medi-Cal benefits for adults, slated for July 1. The notices will be sent in the first week in June. Non-English speaking beneficiaries will receive the notice in the language they have on record at DPSS (if it’s a threshold language) and in English.
These cuts to “optional” benefits, so named because they are not required by the Federal Government, even though they are critical to health and well-being, are still available under some circumstances. Please read the beneficiary notice carefully - if someone is in a course of treatment on July 1st, or even after the benefits are cut needs the benefit prior to getting a service for another benefit still available (such as tooth cleaning before heart surgery), or is pregnant and needs the service to avoid harm to her baby – services may be available.
The state website also has a posting about the cuts in benefits (Change in California State Law for Medi-Cal Benefits). Please note the need for "Modifier TH" for billing for services claimed as pregnancy-related or continuing care. Note that Modifier TH can be used for up to 60 days after termination of pregnancy, for care post miscarriage and abortion as well. You may read the bulletin that went to dental providers.
The Health Consumer Center has created flyers for beneficiaries about the dental cuts in particular. See them in English and Spanish and on their website soon in multiple other languages: in the consumer brochures section. Maternal and Child Health Access has created a Fact Sheet on adult dental benefits under Medi-Cal after July 1st.
Check with the State, with MCH Access, or with the Health Consumer Center (800) 896-3203 about any denials before July 1 and afterward if you think these exceptions to the ability to get care are not being honored or need help making a case for an adult who receive these benefits.
Budget information and analysis – 2009
"Working California" – a project of the California Labor Federation, has created a Budget Priorities flyer
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have a budget brief on “California State Budget Alternatives and Long Term Fiscal Solutions”
Follow these links for more information on the state budget:
Budget Information and Analysis --2008-09
November, 2008
Because of the dire economic situation nationally and the shaky nature of many of the revenue options passed just this fall , our state is already $11.2 billion in deficit. The Governor is proposing many of the same cuts proposed in May after the May revise, throwing thousands of people off health insurance at a time when health care programs for the working poor and poor are needed and being used in record numbers. Click HERE for a list of budget cuts proposed for November, 2008, and see the sources below as well.
October, 2008
The Governor has signed the most delayed state budget on record, 85 days after its due date. Total funding remains almost the same as last year, with $10.3 billion in spending reductions. The Governor chose to make last-minute cuts by line–item vetoing $510 million from the plan approved by the Legislature. These cuts are over and above the cuts already included in the budget, such as the elimination of the cost-of-living adjustments for Cal WORKs and SSI. Health and Human Services programs, including those for low-income seniors and for people with disabilities, received most of the cuts Some of the cuts are outlined here: Budget Cuts Outline
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