Posted on 01/06/2012 8:51:22 AM PST by SmithL
The state's fiscal crisis does not outweigh access to health care, a federal judge said in temporarily blocking state Medi-Cal cuts that rural hospitals say would have endangered skilled nursing care for their elderly and long-term patients.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder in Los Angeles federal court Dec. 28 puts the brakes on Medi-Cal cuts that were intended to save California up to $623 million by trimming reimbursement rates to care providers by as much as 10 percent.
An earlier round of cuts, also temporarily blocked by the courts, would double the reductions.
Medi-Cal, the state's federal Medicaid program, serves more than 7 million low- income Californians and costs the state more than $41 billion annually.
Snyder said in her ruling there was "substantial evidence that numerous (skilled nursing) providers will reduce their capacity or shutter their doors," adding that the state's budgetary woes do not "outweigh the serious irreparable injury plaintiffs would suffer" if she did not issue a preliminary injunction blocking the cuts.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Apparently in California, their constitution is a suicide pact. On the road to fiscal Hell and no way off.
My guess is that California has an awful lot of pork that could be cut before cutting care for the elderly. I agree with the judge on this one.
Though what is not clear is how much of that care expense is due to the Federal failure to close the border and enforce immigration.
Geez....and I thought it was just California’s governor who is insane. Their judges are looney too.
“There’s no money for the health care I want people to have? Well, I give a judicial command to pay for it and to hold back the tide at Pomona so I can go clamming.”
Oh, Californians, your leaders have divorced themselves from reality.
Not their constitution, a Federal “court” has issued this edict, it is thus a Federal Constitution which is the suicide pact.
Yeah, well those rural patients are more likely to be bona fide natural-born citizens than in other areas of the state.
“My guess is that California has an awful lot of pork that could be cut before cutting care for the elderly. I agree with the judge on this one.”
I don’t This is a federal judge telling a state it must spend money it don’t have. There is no way that could possibly be right..
Whether or not the State could cut pork from else where in the budget is ill-relevant. Nobody is entitled to anything taken forcefully from the pocket of other men.(IE Tax dollars).
“Though what is not clear is how much of that care expense is due to the Federal failure to close the border and enforce immigration.”
Every illegal alien, every Californian that shows up in the emergency room which is forced by FEDERAL law(1986 COBRA) to treat them is using up medical resources. The costs of those medical resources are redistributed to everyone else who uses medical resources, including but not limited to the elderly & medicare.
As illegal aliens are not here legally they tend to be particularly disinclined to pay back the hospital and generally can’t be forced to do so again because if we could track them to their job to force them to pay their debts we would kick them out.
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