On June 27, 2019, Gov. Newsom signed next year’s California budget.

Overall, the new budget provides a more stable revenue outlook for our employers and better healthcare coverage for our communities.

Highlights include:

• Instituting a state-level health coverage mandate, which should reduce or even eliminate the number procedures for which our hospitals never get paid. In addition, this holds down average insurance costs by broadening the pool as wide as possible. Although the Federal Goverment dropped this key piece of the ACA, California will maintain a version of it (requiring at least “minimal essential coverage” or face a fine).
• To address skyrocketing health coverage costs for California’s families, this budget increases health coverage subsidies for households earning as much as 600% of the poverty line, depending on family size and needs.
• Restoring Medi-Cal cuts from the recession, including things like optometry, audiology, and podiatry; and expanding Medi-Cal eligibility for undocumented immigrants aged 19 to 25, starting next January.
• Investment in healthcare workforce development…particularly in mental health, but other areas as well. Next January, a 5-year Workforce Education and Training program will launch.