One Sick State
California Budget Crisis Hits Health Care

Visalia Times -- May 2  State budget crisis threatens health care     Throughout California, community hospitals provide vital health care services and emergency care to millions of people around the clock. Babies are born and countless lives are saved every single day. But our hospital — and the lives of every man woman and child — are increasingly at risk.     Recent budget cuts to the state's Medi-Cal program will put patients and California's hospitals at even greater risk. [...]     The new Medi-Cal cuts will further erode an already under-funded program. Medi-Cal already ranks dead last in the nation in payments to health care providers. In fact, California's community hospitals lost a total of $2.8 billion in 2007 from inadequate payments for care provided to Medi-Cal patients. In this latest round of cuts, California hospitals are facing another loss of $500 million. See Illegal Aliens: The Health Cost Dimension