It’s Time to Step it Up for California’s Most Vulnerable 

Just last year, Governor Jerry Brown issued an Executive Order to make “improving the health of Californians a priority for California.” The State Budget passed on Saturday represents a huge leap toward this goal, by expanding Medi-Cal eligibility to millions of Californians who previously lacked access to quality care. For many of them, this is the first time that they and their family members can get the care and services they need.

But the news isn’t all good: we still have work to do to ensure the State’s most vulnerable residents will be able to get the care they need. While Medi-Cal expansion signifies a huge step forward, lawmakers’ failure to restore the $1 billion cut in this budget cycle threatens to undermine this historic progress.

These cuts have the potential to be disastrous for low-income Californians who depend on Medi-Cal for healthcare and the healthcare providers that care for them.  At a time when millions of people are newly eligible for Medi-Cal under the Affordable Care Act, and California has a projected surplus of billions, the State decreased the program’s rate of reimbursement for services, making it the lowest rate in the country.  Now, millions of low-income Californians will find it harder to access the care they need, and many providers will have to close down their practices, lay off employees, or stop seeing Medi-Cal patients.

But we know that—by working together and building our political strength–we can still stop the impacts of these cuts.

Earlier this year, we established We Care for California – an unprecedented coalition of healthcare providers, doctors, administrators, insurers, dentists, and first-responders.  Together–through hundreds of lobby visits, calls, and letters to legislators, and the largest healthcare rally in Californian’s history–we showed lawmakers for the first time that the healthcare industry can speak with a unified voice on behalf of those we care for.  And already, our coalition has secured a commitment from Gov. Brown to work with us in August to remedy the impact of these cuts to Medi-Cal.

Now it’s up to us to keep pressure on the Governor and state lawmakers to stand by their commitments and make healthcare a priority when they reconvene in August. We can only do that with a strong political voice and the resources to make sure that voice is heard.

Will you donate to our political fund to make sure we can do everything it takes to hold our lawmakers accountable and ensure that the most vulnerable Californians aren’t hurt by cuts to Medi-Cal?

Help protect Medi-Cal for the people who need it the most: donate now!

The hospital has drawn criticism for its lax safety measures that contribute to patients escaping regularly, employees being hospitalized after violent altercations with patients, and patients sexually assaulting one another. During a three-year period ending March 2013, the Long Beach Police Department responded to more than 230 calls at the facility.

“The last thing we want to do is strike, but it appears that’s the only option we have left to get the company to bargain in good faith and protect the safety of patients, employees, and the public,” said Tony Gann, a Mental Health Worker at La Casa. “Patients are here to get well, and they should not fear becoming the victim of a sexual assault. Employees are here to deliver care, and they should not fear being kicked, punched, or slammed into the ground. And the public should not have to worry about people with mental illness escaping from the facility and into their neighborhoods.”

La Casa employees, whose starting wage is less than $9, have repeatedly seen their requests for improved safety measures – including an onsite security guard and a Plexiglas barrier around the nursing station – denied by management. In April 2013, one worker ended up in the emergency room after being knocked unconscious by a patient.

Under an agreement between the County of Los Angeles and La Casa, the county pays the facility nearly $450 per patient for every day of care, an amount totaling $18.3 million in 2012, and more than $54 million since 2010. In order to receive county funding, La Casa must take patients who previously stayed at Twin Towers Correctional Facility or Metropolitan State Hospital.

La Casa is owned by Telecare, an Alameda-based private company which has more than 2,200 employees in six states, and reported net patient revenue of $186 million in 2011.

Senator Roth joins SEIU-UHW members from Riverside county for the long trip to the “We Care for California” rally.

8,000 healthcare workers from across the state joined with doctors, nurses, hospital administrators and community supporters at the Capitol to call on Governor Brown and the legislators to stop $1 billion in planned cuts to Medi-Cal.

Coming from all corners of the state, many SEIU-UHW members got on buses before the sun rose to attend the event. And in the case of members from Riverside, they were joined by newly elected State Senator Richard Roth on the journey to Sacramento.

Once there, members paid visits to every member of the California legislature–thanking those who had already agreed to support reversing the cuts, and calling on the others to do the same. If the cuts go through, millions of Californians will lose their healthcare—particularly in rural and underserved areas–and thousands of health workers could lose their jobs.

“I think it’s wonderful to stand up as a union, and to show our unity and our commitment to helping people throughout the community,” said Andrina Lunde from Kaiser Vacaville. “We’ve shown that we can be a force to be reckoned with, to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. We need to do that, and I’m very excited to be here.”

Take a look at our pictures below, and tell us what your favorite part of the rally was in the comments!

“Med-Cal is the foundation of California’s healthcare safety net, but the planned cuts would shred this valuable program and leave those most dependent on it in even worse shape,” said C. Duane Dauner, President/CEO of the California Hospital Association. “This is not the time to undermine Californians’ access to healthcare.”

The rally was organized by “We Care for California,” a coalition formed this year to expand access to quality healthcare for all Californians and to oppose further rate cuts to Medi-Cal. It is the state’s largest coalition of healthcare stakeholders, including major statewide organizations representing physicians, dentists, hospitals, community clinics, first responders, health workers, caregivers, and major health plans.

“We’re here to show Governor Brown and the legislature that during flush budget times, healthcare shouldn’t be targeted for cuts,” said Dave Regan, president of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West. “We all know someone who benefits from Medi-Cal – whether it’s those who receive care or all the professionals who provide it on a daily basis – and they shouldn’t be asked to sacrifice anymore.”

A statewide poll released last week showed 62 percent of Californians support restoring $1 billion in funding to Medi-Cal. The poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted May 21-23 by Benenson Strategy Group and Public Opinion Strategies, whose clients include Republicans and Democrats.

“It’s important that access to care isn’t just an empty promise with an insurance card,” said Paul R. Phinney, M.D., CMA president. “The state simply cannot continue to balance the budget on the backs of California’s poorest and most vulnerable patients, and as part of this coalition, CMA and our 37,000 members join the overwhelming majority of Californians in opposing cuts to Medi-Cal.”

The Medi-Cal cuts were enacted in 2011, but were halted by a lawsuit filed by healthcare leaders. However, a federal court recently allowed the cuts to stand, and now the legislature is advancing two bills to permanently stop the cuts: SB 640 and AB 900, which have strong bipartisan support in both chambers.

“The life-giving mosaic of healthcare providers in California – physicians, nurses, service and technical workers, home care providers, nursing home caregivers, hospital leaders, and first responders, will not sit idly by and witness the collapse of the lives of our fellow Californians,” said Ollie Allen, a Medical Assistant at Kaiser-Vallejo.

The coalition includes American Medical Response, Anthem BlueCross, Blue Shield of California, California Association of Physician Groups, California Dental Association, California Hospital Association, California Medical Association, California Primary Care Association, Dignity Health, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente, Molina Healthcare, and SEIU – United Healthcare Workers West.

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As part of the settlement, a 2009 state law that would have cut the wages of home care workers earning more than $9.50 an hour in Fresno and other counties will be repealed.  Previous injunctions had prevented this law from ever taking effect, and had stopped Fresno County’s persistent attempts to lower the home care workers’ pay from $10.25 per hour to $8.

Home care workers provide essential services that enable seniors and people with disabilities to live safely in their homes, rather than be forced into far more costly nursing homes or hospitals.

“I know so many great caregivers who would have been forced to leave the work they love if their wages were lowered to $8 an hour, and that would have left clients without the care they need,” said Kellye Everhardt, Fresno County home care provider. “With this settlement, and the end of this lawsuit, we can now focus our attention on providing outstanding care to the people we know and love.”

The settlement resolves lawsuits brought by groups representing home care clients and caregivers that have prevented the State of California from implementing cuts to the home care program for the last four years. As part of the statewide settlement, home care workers will not be subject to a permanent 20 percent reduction in their hours, as state officials had planned. The state legislature is advancing bills which approve the relevant parts of the settlement.

Two previous attempts by Fresno County in 2009 and 2010 to reduce home care workers’ wages were challenged in court by SEIU-UHW, and each time a federal judge blocked the cuts.

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While some members have made numerous trips to Sacramento to talk to legislators, for many in the group, it was a first. After making the rounds inside the Capitol, Lynette Harper, an Emergency Department Receptionist at Kaiser San Jose and SEIU-UHW Executive Board member, shared: “This was the first time I ever lobbied at the Capitol, so I was hesitant.  But the legislators and their staff were welcoming and listened to what we had to say about protecting our families and patients.  Now I’m ready to get on the bus on June 4th to come back with thousands of other healthcare workers to show them that we’re serious about saving Medi-Cal!”

Join Lynette and other SEIU-UHW members for

We Care for California Day

June 4, 11am

Outside the Capitol in Sacramento

Buses will be available to take people to the rally in Sacramento.

Sign up now at www.WeCareforCA.org to reserve your seat on the bus.

“Governor Jerry Brown’s inclusion of deep Medi-Cal cuts in his revised budget is an ill-timed move that will hurt the poorest and most vulnerable patients in California, compromise access to quality health care, and put the brakes on a recovering economy.

“Economic conditions have shown encouraging signs of revival, with billions of dollars in new revenue. The governor’s proposed cuts, totaling $1 billion to Medi-Cal providers, come at the worst possible time, when California is working to successfully implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These cuts will undermine those efforts to carry out federal reform, and will have devastating consequences for patients and communities that count on affordable, quality health care.

“The cuts would affect both existing patients as well as the 900,000 children moving from the Healthy Families program into Medi-Cal this year. And millions more who will be newly eligible for Medi-Cal under ACA would also be impacted.

“One in five Californians currently receive health insurance through the Medi-Cal program. Starving the program of needed funding penalizes all Californians, since costs are shifted to the private sector. That creates an upward spiral on individual premiums. In addition, a comprehensive examination of the consequences of the cuts, first outlined in AB 97 in 2011, reveals massive hits to California’s economy and its job picture.

“The worst result of these cuts is that they punish those who can afford it least. Hospital-based skilled nursing facilities face nearly a 27 percent cut in funding that would tear a hole in California’s safety net, rip families apart, and punish the sick and the elderly who depend on this specialized care. These services would be reduced or disappear, leaving taxpayers to pay for more expensive and less effective alternatives, such as acute-care units. Cutting Medi-Cal rates, already the lowest in the nation, will force many physicians to stop accepting new Medi-Cal patients just as the ACA is adding millions more to the system.

“The We Care for California Coalition supports Senate Bill (SB) 640 (Lara) and Assembly Bill (AB) 900 (Alejo), which have gained significant bipartisan support as they have moved without opposition through the legislative process. Both measures would reverse these devastating Medi-Cal cuts and avoid the destructive human cost of restricting access to expert health care.”

The We Care for California Coalition includes SEIU-UHW, the California Hospital Association, the California Medical Association, the California Association of Physician Groups, California Primary Care Association, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, the California Dental Association, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente, Dignity Health, and Molina Healthcare.

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UHW Kaiser Local Agreement 2012-2016