NBC4 Today in LA Features L.A Care View on Medicaid Cuts and Children's Health

NBC4 Today in LA featured Cynthia Carmona, L.A. Care's Senior Director of Safety Net Initiatives, in a piece about the impact of potential Medicaid funding cuts on children's health.


 

Where are those kids going to go to get their care?  If they can't find a doctor who's gonna accept Medi-Cal, how are they going to be able to get their shot?​ 

-- Cynthia Carmona
Senior Director of Safety Net Initiatives, L.A. Care

The current Senate version of the tax reform bill seeks to repeal the ACA's individual mandate, potentially affecting enrollment and creating much higher premiums for consumers. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the end of this mandate would result in the year 2021 seeing a total of $18 billion less federal spending for Medicaid.

Opponents of the repeal stress that deep cuts in federal support of Medicaid in any form would not only affect consumer premiums and create enrollment caps, but decrease reimbursements to health care providers as well, who may no longer be able to afford seeing Medi-Cal patients.