| Health care leaders across the Central Valley are sounding the alarm: David Valadao’s vote for the largest cut to Medi-Cal in history threatens a “financial tsunami” that will devastate hospitals, clinics, and patients across the region.
More than two dozen health leaders warned that the cuts will only compound the Valley’s existing health challenges: nearly two-thirds of residents reliant on Medi-Cal or Medicare, poorer overall health outcomes, and a shortage of medical providers compared to the rest of the state.
DCCC Spokesperson Anna Elsasser:
“David Valadao is directly responsible for creating this health care crisis: tens of millions in losses, hospitals shutting their doors, and worse health outcomes for hardworking families. The Central Valley is paying the price for his cruelty, and they won’t forget come November.”
Here’s what they’re saying:
KVPR: Valley hospitals, clinics brace for financial ‘tsunami’ threatening health care access
- “This is a tsunami that is coming” – Len Finocchio, Yegian Health Insights Regional Lead
- “It is tens of millions of dollars in reductions in revenue for us. I do believe that hospitals will close as a result of these changes and reductions to Medicaid…
- Providers that serve a high volume of Medicaid patients like we do, absolutely cannot absorb any additional reductions in payments…Quite frankly, Congress can’t fix the federal budget…on the back of these low-income patients who really do rely on us to be here.” – Mark Mertz, CEO of Kaweah Health Medical Center in Visalia
- “We are going to have more uninsured patients…” – Justin Preas, president and CEO of United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley.
- “The biggest impacts [are for] people with things like poorly controlled heart failure, poorly controlled diabetes, who would have gone to the local emergency room but now delayed care, and those people are going to end up sicker two or three years from now…You’ll need specialty care and more complicated care, and that’s where it’s going to fall apart.” – Dr. Simon Paul, Madera County’s public health officer
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