“Today, more than 12 million Californians, nearly one-third of the state’s total population, are enrolled in the government’s health insurance plan for low-income, disabled and disadvantaged residents,” U-T San Diego reported.

Wrangling reimbursements

The sharply increased burden has driven stark divides into statewide politics. The dispute has centered around reimbursement rates, which have fallen low enough to discourage many doctors from accepting Medi-Cal.

Even for those who do, low caps on Medi-Cal patients have become the norm. “According to the California Medical Association, Medi-Cal pays an average of $41.48 for an office visit, less than half the $102.45 that Medicare pays for the same service,” according to U-T San Diego.

Part of the problem traced back to 2011, when the state Legislature, deep in the red, passed Assembly Bill 97 — a bill cutting Medi-Cal reimbursements by 10 percent. As the San Jose Mercury News reported, a court injunction forestalled the cut until this fiscal year, but did not prevent it from staying in effect each year after that. In opposing the cut, Medi-Cal providers have been joined by the California Hospital Association and representatives in California’s rural counties, where doctors accepting Medi-Cal can be especially difficult to find without traveling long distances.

Gov. Brown’s administration has anticipated that the reimbursement cut will yield a first-year savings of over $214 million. But as state coffers have swelled with a big taxation windfall, Sacramento Democrats have pushed Brown to take a more liberal approach to budgeting.

For now, with the state deadline for budgeting looming, the governor’s office has refused to budge. Finance Department spokesman H.D. Palmer told the Mercury News that more specifics are needed on how reimbursement increases will expand access to care before the old rates are restored. Meanwhile, finance officials “have pointed out that the $91.3 billion Medi-Cal budget for 2015-16 is almost $10 billion more than the current fiscal year. More than half of the cost comes from the federal government, but the state increased its contribution from the general fund by $700 million for the next fiscal year, up to $18.2 billion.”

Competing priorities

Adding to the sense of chaos, activists have begun a new push to increase health care access for unlawful immigrants. That effort has come at an awkward time. As the Los Angeles Times observed, “reductions made in county health program funding to help finance Obamacare have made it more difficult for some local officials to add — and in some cases maintain — medical care for the poor and residents living here illegally.” California pulled about $900 million in funding for local health programs “to help pay for expanded insurance coverage for those eligible to receive Medi-Cal,” according to the Times.

Lawmakers have also targeted another way Gov. Brown has clawed back some health care outlays. In a unanimous vote, the state Senate sent legislation to the Assembly that would crack down on California’s so-called Medi-Cal recovery program. That regulatory approach that allows the state to reclaim Medi-Cal money from the estates of deceased beneficiaries, even going after the value of their homes. Under the law governing Medicaid, the federal government has been authorized to recover funds in a more narrow way.

For many Californians affected by the rules, the takings come as an shock. As Emily Bazar noted at the Sacramento Bee, beneficiaries can be targeted even if they never went to a doctor. In a particularly counter-intuitive twist, Obamacare enrollees placed into Medi-Cal based on their low income will be required to pay back their health subsidies — while higher-income Covered California enrollees will not have to repay the ones they receive.

By Katy Grimes

The dead Boston Bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would have been eligible to serve on a jury in California, if state legislators have their way.

The Assembly passed a bill Thursday that would  allow non-citizens who are in the U.S.  legally to serve on jury duty.

Just when you thought the state couldn’t favor non-citizens any more, once again California is racing to be the first state in the country to pass a ridiculous law affording non-citizens rights previously reserved only for American citizens.

But that’s not all.

Democratic lawmakers at the state Capitol are currently trying to pass a law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain a California driver’s license. Last year they passed a law allowing illegal immigrants to apply for and receive student financial aid benefits and state-funded grants for college.

But here is an interesting thought: The dead Boston Bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, would have been eligible to serve on a jury since he was a “legal immigrant” but not yet a citizen.

This is what life in California has become under a Democratic supermajority.

“Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill, AB1401, would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into the community. It does not change other criteria for being eligible to serve on a jury, such as being at least 18, live in the county that is making the summons and being proficient in English,” the AP reported.

The bill passed 45-25 on a mostly party line vote. Only one Democrat voted no, while many other Democrats chose not to vote on the bill. Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, cast the only ‘no’ vote for the Democrats.

I had no idea there was a shortage of jurors in California. My husband was recently let out of jury duty since there were so many jurors to choose from in Sacramento County.

Democrats argued there is no correlation between being a citizen and a juror. And somehow because there is no citizenship requirement to be an attorney or a judge, Democrats claimed the bill was justified.

Republican’s however, called AB 1401 “misguided and premature.”

“Jury selection is not the problem,” said Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, R-Dana Point. “The problem is trial court funding. I hope we can focus on that. Let’s not break something that’s not broken now. Let’s not whittle away at what is reserved for U.S. citizens. There’s a reason for it.”

If you weren’t outraged over the previous bills affording illegal immigrants rights and liberties previously reserved for American citizens, AB 1401 should convince you that this Legislature is hell-bent on eroding what’s left of California.