As policymakers grapple with the government shutdown, Ted Lempert in California is keeping tabs on how it may affect kids here.
The president of the nonprofit Children Now is paying particular attention to potential cuts to Medicaid, or Medi-Cal in California, which provides health coverage for roughly half of the state’s children.
State leaders estimate that the federal Medicaid cuts will force 3.4 million Californians out of our version of the program, known as Medi-Cal. But we do not have to sit idly by and wait for the fallout. In fact, states and communities still hold real power to blunt the worst outcomes and protect coverage for millions.
California can implement the law in the least harmful way: creating broad exemptions, simplifying paperwork and deploying technology to reduce administrative friction.
Let me introduce you to some people whose lives would be upended if Republicans in Congress carry through with plans to decimate health care funding that covers 15 million Californians.
They are my neighbors and friends here in Laguna Woods, a small Orange County community in which 83 percent of residents are over 65.