{"id":251822,"date":"2026-04-04T16:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/251822\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:32:15","slug":"after-deep-federal-cuts-california-lawmakers-push-for-full-restoration-of-medi-cal-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/251822\/","title":{"rendered":"After Deep Federal Cuts, California Lawmakers Push for Full Restoration of Medi-Cal Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">By Bo Tofu<br \/>BlackPress of America<br \/>https:\/\/blackpressusa.com\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">L.A. FOCUS \u2014 The hearing, held at the State Capitol, focused on the impacts of reductions to programs such as Medi-Cal, the Affordable Care Act and Covered California. Officials said regulatory changes and funding rollbacks could reduce the quality and availability of health coverage for many Californians.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1400\" height=\"730\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-41.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-114341\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">California\u2019s public health programs could lose billions of dollars due to recent federal budget cuts, state health officials told lawmakers during a joint committee hearing on March 10.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The hearing, held at the State Capitol, focused on the impacts of reductions to programs such as Medi-Cal, the Affordable Care Act, and Covered California. Officials said regulatory changes and funding rollbacks could reduce the quality and availability of health coverage for many Californians.<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThe rollback of federal policies risks reversing hard-won progress,\u201d said Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland).<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cFor many Californians, accessibility and affordability were already in question,\u201d Bonta continued. \u201cMore than half of Californians are worried about out-of-pocket expenses, long-term care and monthly premiums, concerns that now surpass anxiety about housing, groceries, transportation and utilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters) expressed frustration over the potential impact on vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cWhen I see some of the people who come into our offices, our elderly, our disabled, primary care doctors, we\u2019re all very, very concerned,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is not affordable. It\u2019s not taking care of our most vulnerable. I\u2019m just very frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Dawn Joyce presented research showing that Medi-Cal alone faces $30 billion in annual cuts. California\u2019s Health and Human Services Agency estimate that federal reductions could result in 2 million residents losing Medi-Cal coverage, costing the state between $2.3 billion and $5.1 billion each year. In fiscal year 2024-25, the federal government paid for 62% of Medi-Cal\u2019s budget, with 22% from the California general fund and 16% from other state and local sources.<\/p>\n<p>ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThere\u2019s just a broader effort currently to dismantle, remove federal funding that we\u2019ve relied on, and it will lead to vast coverage losses,\u201d Joyce testified.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles) also highlighted the human impact of the cuts on social media, writing on Facebook: \u201cMost Medi-Cal recipients already work. More than 1 million Black Californians rely on Medi-Cal and could lose coverage under these harmful federal cuts. Working families should not pay the price when too many communities have already suffered lost lives, lost health, and years of disinvestment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Bo TofuBlackPress of Americahttps:\/\/blackpressusa.com\/ L.A. FOCUS \u2014 The hearing, held at the State Capitol, focused on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111876,7,9,111877,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-251822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-after-deep-federal-cuts","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-lawmakers-push-for-full-restoration-of-medi-cal-benefits","12":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}