For the past two years, I’ve co-facilitated meetings in five counties and helped lead numerous projects across California to help these organizations cope with the state’s demands. In nearly every meeting, I observe the same pattern: Community-based organizations are financing California’s Medicaid transformation out of their own organizational capacity.
This dynamic has equity implications that deserve attention.
Medically tailored groceries are just one of the more creative methods advocates are using to get food to the most vulnerable Californians, including those who are disabled or elderly.
With federal delays in dispersing SNAP benefits in November and other looming changes, people who work on the front lines of food access say this creativity is essential; it’s an all-hands-on-deck situation.
Last year when other Medi-Cal providers (like OBGYNs and doulas) were given a rate increase for their services, community health workers were left out.
As the California legislature begins discussions about how to streamline the state’s budget, we hope they will consider allocating money for this essential service.
The WIC food assistance program is needed and effective. However, there are multiple barriers to accessing services.
By modernizing how health data is shared with local WIC agencies, we can increase program enrollment, enhance care coordination with health care providers and improve the health of high-risk, underserved populations.
Millions of Californians feel they can’t afford to address their health needs, whether through medication, doctor’s visits or insurance coverage.
California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability recently proposed capping medical spending growth at 3 percent. This would limit how much things like insurance premiums or the cost of medical services could rise every year.
Improving access to high-quality primary care is one of the best things we can do to improve health in America. The consolidation and corporatization of primary care is delivering the greater access and lower costs consumers are demanding.
Yet long-term, this approach may be harming, not improving, health equity.
We cannot achieve health equity for Black patients without expanding the Black physician workforce.
Medical institutions have yet to honestly examine and address how they perpetuate the problem of a White-dominated physician training system that unjustly excludes, punishes, and dismisses Black medical students, trainees, and attending physicians.
California’s rural north has significantly worse health care access than the rest of the state.
The barriers to treatment are even higher when residents try to access care from specialist physicians. When patients or families experience difficulties accessing needed medical care, it multiplies existing social needs, increasing patients’ risk of things like substance use, housing uncertainty and domestic violence.
Most older adults want to stay in their homes and communities as they age. To do that, many eventually need assistance with routine and personal care.
But 40 percent of older adults and adults with disabilities in California who need help to stay in their homes report receiving either no help at all or not enough.
Black Californians have one of the lowest life expectancies in California. This is despite the fact that the vast majority of these residents have some form of insurance coverage and consistently demonstrate a strong interest in taking care of their health.
This contradiction begs the question: What is wrong with health care for Black Californians?