As California lawmakers race to hash out what will get nixed and what will remain in the state’s strained 2026-27 budget before the constitutional June 15 deadline, aging and disability advocates are sounding alarms.
A consortium of 166 organizations say Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposals break a promise and target the state’s most vulnerable residents.
When California committed to “Medi-Cal for All Children” a decade ago, it made a powerful promise to families from all backgrounds: No child will go without health care. It was a defining moment and a strong example of California taking the lead on kids’ health and setting an example for the country.
Today, that promise is in danger of being broken.
Under California law, residential care and skilled nursing facilities must inform new residents and their families of the existence of a family council. And if a council doesn’t exist, relatives must be told of their right to form one.
State law now requires facilities to respond to a council’s written requests within 14 calendar days. Facilities with active councils often see higher quality care, advocates say.
Every Californian should have access to quality health care, no matter where they live. But today, that promise is slipping out of reach in rural communities. Without decisive action to support the academic medical centers that offer care and train the next generation of health professionals, the consequences will be felt across the entire state.
The budget that legislators must adopt by June 15 will set California on one of two courses: protecting the health coverage that millions rely on, or allowing federal cuts to decimate Medi-Cal, the insurance program covering 15 million Californians.
Without a strong response from lawmakers in the coming days, millions will be pushed out of coverage or lose critical health benefits, making California sicker and more unequal.
There are an estimated 11.5 million Americans (or nearly 5 percent of the population) living with a serious mental illness. Many families struggle to get care for their loved ones, describing an inhumane system that treats mental illness and the often-concomitant problem of substance use disorder as different than other disabilities.
For years, Kartar Diamond struggled to find care for her son due to a lack of quality residential housing programs in California, expensive monthly rates, and long waiting lists at both public and private long-term psychiatric facilities.
Now 35, he lives in a residential housing program in Orange County for people with severe mental illnesses.
Without serious intervention, July 1 will usher in a new era for American health care, carrying dire consequences for decades to come.
These provisions are not neutral reforms. They are targeted policies that will decimate the nursing workforce while disproportionately undermining a profession dominated by women — particularly working mothers and women of color.
I’m one of many people who are increasingly living longer with or past cancer. In the 1970s, only 49 percent of patients survived five years after their illness, but that rate has risen to 70 percent. Doctors now commonly talk about cancer as a chronic disease which can be managed.
But even as older cancer patients receive the gift of extra time, greater longevity brings its own challenges.
When California rolled out its 988 mental health crisis response hot line in July 2022, architects believed it would lead to an overhaul of the emergency medical system.
That hasn’t quite come to pass, but most communities across the state have taken steps toward this vision — and some of them have robust systems. Now they are worried about losing them due to looming federal and state budget cuts.
Recent ICE actions threaten the stability of the current and future caregiver workforce, impacting those who are undocumented, as well as nearly 500,000 workers with legal status.
On Feb. 26, 109 organizations sent a letter to Congress calling for reining in ICE actions due to the harm to older adults, people with disabilities and their caregivers.
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