SACRAMENTO BEE: SACRAMENTO CONGRESSWOMAN DORIS MATSUI WARNS MEDI-CAL IS AT RISK IN FEDERAL SPENDING PLAN
Longtime Sacramento Congresswoman Doris Matsui is in the middle of the fight to preserve health insurance for very low income people in the United States.
“This is a real battle,” she said during a news conference Thursday in West Sacramento.
Matsui serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House of Representatives. Republicans have asked that committee to cut $880 billion over the next 10 years, with most of those cuts being from Medicaid, which is called Medi-Cal in California. The cuts are to counteract President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and border security agenda.
“I said first, ‘are you sure it’s B?’ They said, ‘Yeah Doris, it’s not M, it’s B. It’s billion’,” she said. “I mean, that’s cutting everything down.”
A letter from the Congressional Budget Office sent earlier this month shows the Energy and Commerce Committee was expected to preside over about $8.8 trillion dollars of spending from 2025 to 2034, with 93% being Medicaid spending. According to health policy organization KFF, the Medicaid cuts could include dropping coverage, stopping payment of high-cost prescriptions, or cutting payment rates to providers.
The budget resolution also includes a directive that could cut hundreds of billions from the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Plan, known as CalFresh in California, over the next 10 years. Congressional Republicans are now working on a bill to hammer out the budget details.
Matsui convened a group of people who use Medi-Cal and CalFresh at the Yolo County Children’s Alliance Family Resource Center in West Sacramento Thursday to share their experiences.
“When I look at these programs, I don’t see bureaucracy,” said Jenaba Lahai, executive director of the Children’s Alliance. “I see the West Sacramento mother who brought her sick child to our center last week, relieved that Medi-Cal could cover the doctor’s visit.”
A poster next to Matsui highlighted the percent of her Republican colleague’s constituents who were on Medi-Cal: 43% in the district of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, 23% in that of Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, 67% in the district of Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford.
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