On average, for every dollar a hospital spends to care for someone, Medicaid gives it 74 cents back, Coyle said.

While more people are on Medicaid, how much Medicaid pays hospitals has stayed the same. The state’s Medicaid rolls increased dramatically during the pandemic, a combination of emergency rules to make the program more accessible and a decision by Democrats to make all low-income adults eligible for the program regardless of their immigration status. In California, the problem has been compounded by an increase in the number of people who get their health care costs paid for by the government. Since then, rising inflation and labor costs have made it difficult for hospitals to recover. While many were inundated with COVID-19 cases, patients for other things - like elective surgeries - dried up. The pandemic upended hospitals across the country. I am very worried,” said Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association, an industry trade group. “I don’t think people are appreciating what’s going on out there. Gavin Newsom agreed to go ahead and spend this money now, pledging to do more later in the year when the budget is finished. But the crisis is so severe that legislative leaders and Gov. A report last month paid for by the California Hospital Association warned that 20% of the state’s more than 400 hospitals were at risk of closing.Ĭalifornia lawmakers typically don’t approve new spending until June following months of debate and negotiations with the governor’s office. Since then, hospitals in El Centro, Montebello, Hawkins and Visalia have all teetered on the brink of collapse, with one declaring bankruptcy and another being taken over by a state university to prevent its closure. The closure was a startling reminder of the plight of many community hospitals in mostly rural areas of the country that have struggled to stay open during the coronavirus pandemic. The only hospital in Madera County closed in December, leaving the community of nearly 160,000 people with no medical center within a 30-minute drive. (AP) - Alarmed by the closure of a rural hospital earlier this year, California lawmakers on Thursday voted to loan $150 million to struggling medical centers in the hope of preventing a cascade of similar failures across the state.

Two Lovers by Beverly Adam