Governor’s Budget Misses Opportunity on Children’s Health
On behalf of a coalition of leading children’s health advocates in California, Alison Buist, Health Policy Director at the Children’s Defense Fund, issued the following statement in response to Governor Brown’s 2015-16 budget proposal:
“In his budget proposal, Gov. Brown missed the opportunity to capitalize on the promise of health reform for California by ensuring all children and families have access to the health coverage and care they need. At a time when more than 1 in 4 California children live in poverty, investing in children’s health care is essential to ensure children grow up healthy and ready to learn.
We urge the Governor to work quickly and persistently to ensure all people in California who are entitled to health coverage get enrolled. We know that covering children, regardless of immigration status, has numerous positive health effects both in the short- and long-term. However, the Governor’s proposal fails to budget for state-funded Medi-Cal coverage for immigrants newly eligible for “deferred action” status under President Obama’s executive order.
With the successful implementation of federal health care reform, millions more Californians have enrolled in health coverage, and the Medi-Cal program now provides health coverage to half of California’s children. But an insurance card is not enough – in order to ensure that children and families actually have timely access to the health care they need, there must be enough Medi-Cal doctors, dentists and appropriate pediatric providers to serve children in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, the Governor’s budget would maintain recession-era cuts to Medi-Cal provider rates, already among the lowest in the entire country, missing an opportunity to ensure that sufficient providers participate in the Medi-Cal program so children can actually access care when they need it.
We are pleased that the Governor’s budget expanded the successful county pilot for pediatric palliative care, and maintained commitments made in past budget years to boost funding for Medi-Cal county enrollment work and provide behavioral health treatment for children and young adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder in accordance with federal law.
As the budget deliberations continue over the next several months, we call on Governor Brown and the Legislature to work toward creating a system of health coverage and care that will truly ensure that that all children in California, regardless of income or immigration status, can get the care they need to maximize their potential.”
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