CA House Republicans approve budget proposal likely to cut Medi-Cal

California’s version of the federal Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, insures more than a third of the state’s total population — roughly 14.9 million people. But in February all nine of California’s Republican legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives approved a federal budget proposal that would likely cut Medicaid benefits.

As CalMatters’ Kristen Hwang explains, California House Republicans represent about 2.5 million people enrolled in Medi-Cal, which provides health insurance for disabled and low-income Californians. GOP members in the House want to eliminate $880 billion in spending over the next 10 years in order to maintain tax cuts President Donald Trump made in 2017, which mostly benefit the wealthy. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded spending cuts of that magnitude would likely necessitate slashing costs to Medicaid or Medicare (which insurers people age 65 and older).

The Senate voted on a narrower budget bill that is less likely to affect Medicaid, but both chambers must agree on a budget deal later this year. 

Medicaid makes up the largest portion of federal funding to states, and California spends about $161 billion on Medicaid, most of which comes from the federal government. Some of California’s most conservative regions benefit disproportionately from Medicaid: 48% of the population represented by Rep. Jay Obernolte’s district in San Bernardino County is enrolled in Medicaid, while 43% of the population in Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s district, which includes counties in the northernmost part of California, are in the program.

In Orange County, Josephine Rios voted for Republican Rep. Young Kim. Rios has a 7-year-old grandson with cerebral palsy, who will likely need Medicaid for his entire life.

• Rios: “I’m very disappointed and very frustrated that (Kim) voted and she didn’t fight harder to keep Medi-Cal uncapped not only for her constituents like myself but for the young children who need it. She needs to remember why we elected her into office.”

 Read more here.

Some California legislators were busy at the state Capitol Tuesday advocating for their proposals this session:

• Pregnancy leave: Joined by lawmakers from the California Legislative Women’s Caucus and the state’s school chief Tony Thurmond, Democratic Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry of Davis promoted her bill to provide up to 14 weeks of paid pregnancy leave for public school employees. Under current law, California teachers are not entitled to paid leave after giving birth. In 2019 Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a similar bill.

• Incarcerated firefighters: Following the deadly January fires in the Los Angeles area, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, a Culver City Democrat, wants to raise the hourly wages of incarcerated firefighters to $19 while assigned to a fire. Currently, incarcerated firefighters are paid between $5.80 and $10.24 per day and an additional $1 per hour during active emergencies.

• Voter ID: Republican Assemblymember Bill Essayli of Corona, who was recently removed from the Assembly Elections Committee, is supporting a campaign to require statewide voter identification for elections. Led by Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego through his Reform California organization, the campaign seeks to bring the issue in front of voters as a 2026 ballot measure. Last year California passed a law banning local governments from enacting voter ID policies.

CalMatters recently published a year-long investigation from reporter Lauren Hepler, which found that California’s homeless shelters are deadlier than the state’s jails and only a fraction of the people in them end up in permanent housing. You can hear Lauren and other voices from her coverage on CapRadio’s Insight, KQED’s Political Breakdown, LAist’s AirTalk and KCRW’s Press Play. 

We also published the first in a series of collaborations with our California public radio partners. Last June, the Supreme Court gave cities in California and beyond more power to crack down on homeless camps. This series aims to track California’s response to this ruling and the effects on unhoused people across the state. 

This first installment in the series looks at how the uptick in encampment sweeps is affecting homeless people in San Francisco, Fresno and San Diego. Reporter Katie Anastas with our radio partner, KPBS, contributed coverage from San Diego. 

In San Diego, Katie found unhoused people are trying to avoid sweeps by camping on Caltrans property instead. That’s often putting them in even more dangerous living situations and pushing them farther from support services.

You can hear Katie’s radio coverage on her San Diego findings on KQED’s California Report. 

California’s low-carbon fuel standard, aimed at reducing air pollution and fossil fuel use, has been rejected by the state agency that reviews the legality of state regulations. CalMatters climate reporter Alejandro Lazo and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on the reason why as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.