California voters told lawmakers last fall that they wanted doctors to get paid more to see low-income patients. But officials for the Newsom administration blew past a federal deadline to make that happen through Medi-Cal Monday, effectively leaving millions of dollars unclaimed.
The unclaimed money is tied toProposition 35, a ballot measure passed by 68% of voters in November. The measure committed money from a special tax on health insurance plans to increase payments to doctors and health care facilities that treat low-income patients in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.
But first the state had to submit papers to the federal government for approval. That deadline was March 31.
Missing the deadline means that, for the first quarter of the year, doctors will not get the rate increases promised by the ballot measure. It also means that California will lose federal matching dollars intended to boost the Medi-Cal program during that time period. The Department of Health Care Services, the agency that oversees Medi-Cal and the implementation of Prop. 35 did not respond by publication deadline to questions from CalMatters about why the state missed the funding deadline.