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Thousands of California children losing Medi-Cal each month; most still eligible By Suzanne Potter, Producer, Public News Service
A pediatrician giving a baby a vaccine injection. | Photo by CDC on Unsplash
O
ver the coming year about 2.3 million Californians, a million of them children, are expected to lose Medi-Cal, which is health insurance coverage for low-income families - as the state redetermines all enrollees' eligibility after the pandemic. In June alone, 225,000 people were disenrolled from the program, including 64,000 kids. An estimated 89% still qualify financially. Joan Alker - a research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy, and the executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University - explained that many families either moved and haven't received the
renewal letters, or they're having trouble with the paperwork. "It's very complicated, understanding some of these notices that families are getting," said Alker. "Families try to call the call center and they can't get through. And unfortunately, often, the burden is falling on families to really try to push through this process." Confusion is rampant because the system does not issue receipts that prove that documents have been received or notify people that their packets are being processed. Help is available on the state Department of Health Care Services' website keepmedi-calcoverage.
org - and on the Children's Partnership website, AllInforHealth.org. About 15 million Californians, including 5.7 million children, are enrolled in Medi-Cal. Kristen Golden Testa, director of Health Policy with the Children's Partnership, said families need to be proactive. "One: Make sure your county has your up-todate contact information," said Testa. "Two: Be on the lookout in the mail for a yellow envelope, which is saying you need to renew and here's what you need to fill out. And send it back in." Liza Davis, director of community engagement and advocacy at the Children's Partnership, noted
that Medi-Cal eligibility also determines a variety of benefits for kids at school. "It's really greater than just losing your Medi-Cal and then having to renew and, you know, having to delay an appointment," said Davis. "No, it's pretty consequential because there's a ripple effect and there are so many things that are connected to your Medi-Cal enrollment." Disclosure: Georgetown University Center for Children & Families contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Health Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, visit https:// publicnewsservice.org/dn1. php.
VOL. 11,
NO. 135
Producers release WGA offer, union calls it divisive move By City News Service
T
he standoff between Hollywood studios and striking writers was intensifying Wednesday, one day after a meeting between union negotiators and studio heads failed to result in any movement toward a labor contract, and the union accusing studios of attempting to sow discontent among writers. According to a message sent late Tuesday to Writers Guild of America members by the union's negotiating team, union leaders met with representatives of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and executives including Disney CEO Bob Iger, Warner Bros./ Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Universal Chairwoman Donna Langley and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos. Union officials said they attended the meeting "in hopes that the companies were serious about getting the industry back to work," but they were instead "met with a lecture about how good their single and only counteroffer was." "But this wasn't a meeting to make a deal. This was a meeting to get us to cave, which is why, not 20 minutes after we left the meeting, the AMPTP released its summary of their proposals," according to the WGA message to members. "This was the companies' plan from the beginning — not to bargain, but to jam us. It is their only strategy — to bet that we will turn on each other." AMPTP officials released a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Variety and other select outlets Tuesday professing to be focused on resolving the strike and touting the benefits of the alliance's counter-offer to union proposals. "The offer recognizes the foundational role writers play in the industry and underscores the companies' commitment to ending the strike," according to the statement from AMPTP, which bargains on behalf of the major studios and streamers. According to the AMPTP, the studios' offer includes the largest pay bump for the WGA in 35 years, with an increase of 5% in the first year, along with bumps of 4% and 3.5% in the following two years. The WGA had sought a 6% increase to minimums and residual bases in the first year, followed by 5% increases in the second and third years, according to the Times. The studio offer also includes increased authority for showrunners to determine staffing in the writing room, along with extensive protections for writers against the use of artificial intelligence and increases in residuals for streaming programs. The studios have also agreed to provide details on streaming viewership numbers. The WGA has been pushing to tie compensation to those viewership numbers.
See WGA Page 28