While Adam Gray Fights to Protect Health Care, California Republicans are MIA

The Bee points out that 4 million Californians are about to lose their Medicaid coverage, another 1.7 million Covered California enrollees will see their premium costs spike by 66% because of expiring ACA tax credits, and 70 hospitals are on the verge of shuttering – all thanks to Republicans and their Big, Ugly Law.

Meanwhile, Gray is fighting for a bill that would restore Medicaid funding to help those same 4 million Californians stay on their health care – but Valadao and his GOP colleagues are not supporting Gray’s bill, despite the fact that the rural communities they represent will be among the hardest-hit. Instead, they skipped town without any plan to help the millions of Valley families they put in jeopardy.

“The healthcare ecosystem is fragile, and Republicans don’t care,” the Editorial Board concludes.

Read more of the editorial for yourself:

• About 4 million Californians are about to lose their Medicaid coverage, another 1.7 million Covered California enrollees will see a premium increase of 66% because of expiring tax credits. On top of that, 70 hospitals are on the verge of declaring bankruptcy because of the One, Big, Beautiful Bill. 
• And what are Republicans in Congress doing to keep us from going over a healthcare cliff? Nothing.
• HR 4849, by Merced Democrat Adam Gray, would restore Medicaid funding but the GOP is not supporting Gray’s bill. 
• The looming problems are real, according to Gray and healthcare experts…
  • More than half of California hospitals are currently operating in the red…
  • Community health centers and clinics are spending more money than they receive… About 850,000 patients will lose coverage due to new eligibility requirements. 
  • Eighty percent of Planned Parenthood of California patients rely on Medicaid… The group is facing a loss of $304 million in federal Medicaid reimbursement…
  • Dustin Corcoran, CEO of the California Medical Association, worries that more physicians will flee their practice because of Medicaid cuts and elimination of health insurance tax subsidies. In the last five years, he said, there was a 39% reduction in independent physician practitioners. 
• “The reality is (Republicans are) decimating health care for the American people. This is about destroying the progress we’ve made in trying to improve our healthcare system and the way it delivers services across the country.” – Rep. Gray 
• …The rural poor who tend to be concentrated in the San Joaquin Valley will suffer the most as the loss of health insurance and community clinics will drive them to bypass care until they have to go visit hospital emergency rooms.
• “Rural communities were last in line before. We’re going to be last in line tomorrow,” said Gray, who represents the 13th Congressional District where 59% of its residents rely on MediCal and another 4% use the premium subsidy to purchase health insurance through Covered California.
• That rate is surpassed in California only by Valadao’s 22nd District (70% for both MediCal and premium subsidies)… Valadao threatened to vote against the Medicaid cuts but in the end sided with the GOP in a partisan 218-214 vote.
• The healthcare ecosystem is fragile, and Republicans don’t care.

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