Protect Medi-Cal Funding Series, Health Disparities

Executive Summary

California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, is critical to addressing health disparities, providing health care coverage to people of color to at least 68 percent of its enrolled population. In the sixth Issue Brief of a 12-part “Protect Medi-Cal Funding,” series, NHeLP Senior Attorney Fabiola Carrión explains how federal cuts to Medicaid funding, proposed in the House Republicans’ so-called American Health Care Act (AHCA), would make it increasingly difficult for the state to provide quality health care to its most vulnerable populations. Coursolle notes that the proposed funding cuts “would make it impossible for California to implement or continue initiatives that address social determinants of health or make strategic investments in preventive care and community health that save long-term costs.”