Medi-Cal

‘What does the future look like?’: As California braces for Medicaid cuts, former health secretary to lead new commission in creating plan to protect care

California’s independent legislative analyst is warning that the state faces a nearly $18 billion deficit. It is “critical” for lawmakers to rein in spending and increase revenues long term, he said.

Federal cuts to Medicaid will mean fewer slots, longer waits and fewer therapists at Early Start, a program for children and babies with special needs.

What will California’s next governor do about health care? Four Democrats in the race say answering the Trump Administration’s cuts and making care affordable is important. But they disagree about how to pay for that.

Three years after closing its maternity ward, a new state law will help a rural Northern California hospital bring birth services back to the community.

Glenn Medical Center has been in the same location for decades, but a narrow interpretation of a federal rule shut it down. Now thousands of people have to leave the county for emergency care.

An injection of public funding means the nonprofit organization can keep reproductive health clinics operating. But with more financial troubles looming, lawmakers say there’s more work to be done to protect services.

Whether federal cuts are legal is still undecided. But local health departments have closed clinics, stopped programs, cut immunization appointments, and laid off workers anyway.

With just days until the legislative session wraps, California’s top Democrats are discussing a series of climate, energy and transit measures in backrooms. Details are so scant that even veteran lobbyists and advocates say they are confused and frustrated.

Gov. Gavin Newsom says these popular weight-loss drugs cost the state too much. But California could save about $3,000 per patient who lost weight. Other health conditions also would improve.