Presentation
State Budget and Tax Considerations of Key Health Policy Proposals
Director of Research Scott Graves spoke about the implications of various health policy proposals in the 2019-20 state budget proposal, including plans to expand coverage and help boost the affordability of insurance purchased through the individual market, for the USC Center for Health Journalism’s Collaborative Gathering.
Report
First Look: Governor’s Inaugural Budget Proposal Includes Bold and Smart Investments, While Maintaining Fiscal Health
This “first look” analysis examines Governor Newsom’s proposed state budget for 2019-20, the state fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2019.
Newsom Should Think Beyond Preschool, Build Home Visitation Program for Infants
A 2012 study in the journal Developmental Science found big gaps in vocabulary in 18-month-old babies. In other words, preschool is valuable, but it’s already too late for some key developmental milestones. And the best way to nurture those important skills from the start is with home visits as well as better education for daycare center staff. The California Budget & Policy Center reached the same conclusion, reporting, “While later interventions can be successful, they also are likely to require more effort and public expenditures to address the harm.”
Wildfires: The Latest Chapter of Trump vs. California
Chris Hoene, executive director of the California Budget & Policy Center, says the president can punish a state by creating or altering rules for federal programs and services. For example, Hoene said, “In recent budget proposals, the administration has sought to increase work requirements for entitlement programs, which reduces the eligibility for more low-income recipients (and California has more of those folks, so it hits our state harder).” Hoene also said the president can use leverage over funding to try and force the state to enact “new policies [with] rules that are more harmful/restrictive to some states than others.”
Great Expectations: California’s First Steps Toward Universal Health Care
There are certainly a number of thorny issues to resolve. For starters, says Scott Graves, the research director of the California Budget & Policy Center, a single-payer system will require a “high degree of collaboration” with the federal government. This collaboration could involve changes in U.S. law and waivers signed by the federal government that would allow the state to redirect federal health care funds. Under a Trump administration that has rightly viewed California as a base of resistance, such collaboration is highly unlikely.