The Budget: May 2007 Archives

Sometimes in politics, the easiest solutions are the most elusive. That should not be the case with one part of the state budget discussions. When it comes to trying to leverage state tax dollars to maximize federal money at small state cost, there is no simpler discussion than putting in a meager $24 Million to increase the Medi-Cal reimbursement rates for our state's safety net health care providers like Planned Parenthood and Neighborhood Health Clinics.

These providers are requesting the state increase their reimbursements for the first time in 20 years, although their work and responsibilities have expanded greatly over time and the costs to them have increased substantially as the sheer costs of delivering health care services---from staffing to pharmaceuticals, have shot through the ceiling during the past two decades.

But the common sense of it all should be the deal maker alone. For less than 1/10th of 1% of the state's budget, we could see California get nine matching federal dollars for each state dollar spent, thus reducing the state's financial burden, our healthcare safety net's fraying edges and returning to Californians some of their hard-earned dollars. With Californians paying over $50 Billion more in taxes to the feds than we get back in services, this is one pretty inexpensive way to bring at least a few of those tax dollars home.

If you agree, it's time to act. We urge you to go to our site at: http://ga4.org/campaign/Fundingthehealthcaresafetynetnow and sign a letter to our state's leadership urging them to put these dollars to work. We've been working hard to get a $24 million dollar increase into the Medi-Cal reimbursement rate as part of the current budget negotiations. After 20 years of no increases at all, NOW IS THE TIME. We are at the critical point in these negotiations when we must TAKE ACTION and INSIST that our state leaders---from the Governor to the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Don Perata and Speaker of the Assembly, Fabian Nunez,---listen to us and help the state's healthcare safety net providers care for the hundreds of thousands of people they serve---and have to turn away because they don't have the financial resources to provide clinical care to those seeking it.

This is a solution that works. It's time to bring those tax dollars back to California. The need is great and the opportunity is NOW. Easy solutions are hard to come by these days. Let's not let them drop the ball on this one.
Help us help them make it happen.

When I first arrived in Sacramento to begin my legislative career, I was told straight out that the most important votes I would cast each year would be on the budget.
I was reminded that the budget is the state's moral document; it reflects the priorities of the state to the neediest among us, to the future and to our vision of who we are as a people. It should be fair and responsible. It is a document that reflects our compassion, our sense of purpose and our values.

So here we are in 2007, with a budget that leaks red ink because of structural deficits (that means because we're required to spend certain amounts for various programs, etc. that cost more than we bring in). We've had these structural problems for years---as we load more and more requirements onto government but refuse to increase income to pay for them.

Our Governor says we should sell off some of these programs to bring in one-time dollars (and then let the private sector run amock without accountability or commitment to serving the public, just their profits). He also says we should pay back Wall Street instead of making sure that the kids on Main Street have food and shelter to help them grow and live with basic human dignity. He says we can't ask the wealthy for more, or close tax loopholes for bloated multi-national corporations that take our services but won't pay for them. Instead, we'll just ignore the blind, the elderly, the disabled and children of the poor and cut their already puny "aid". After all, why should those with so much be asked to share even a small amount with those who have so little? Why should corporations that make millions off of Californians and the freeways and infrastructure we've created for their use have to compensate the state for the benefits that come to them as a result?