Sacramento, CA - Assemblymember Hector De La Torre (D-South Gate) expressed concern over the Governor's agreement with the federal government to restructure Medicaid funding for California hospitals. As Chair of the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, De La Torre has been working diligently with hospitals throughout the year.

The Schwarzenegger Administration announced an agreement today with the federal government on a Medicaid waiver that restructures financing for California's safety net hospitals. The agreement makes a significant portion of funding accessible to hospitals conditional on the Legislature enacting the Administration's proposal to expand mandatory enrollment of managed care plans for aged and disabled Medi-Cal patients.

This proposal was rejected on May 19, 2005, when the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services voted to set aside the expansion of managed care for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled.

"We expect our hospitals to be the front lines of our health-care system whether it is to serve as a local emergency room or as trauma centers during tragic circumstances. Our hospitals have answered that call," stated De La Torre. "Instead of fighting on their behalf, the Governor has insisted that the Medicaid hospital financing waiver he has negotiated is the best we can get. Settling for this deal may jeopardize our hospitals and the patients they serve."

On June 14, 2005, 33 Assemblymembers, led by De La Torre, sent a letter to the Governor outlining major concerns with the proposal including the managed care condition, the lack of a reliable growth component, and uncertainty about the stability of funding sources. The letter closes stating "Your Administration will be responsible for any subsequent damage to an already weakened hospital infrastructure in California."

Assemblymember De La Torre notes that a coalition of hospital groups including the California Hospital Association, the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, the California Children's Hospitals, and the Private Essential Access Community (PEACH) Hospitals, has not endorsed the Governor's proposal and has expressed numerous concerns with the plan.