key takeaway
Federal budget proposals threaten to cut funding for essential programs like Medi-Cal and CalFresh, trading away Californians’ health care and food security to fund massive tax breaks for the wealthy — with devastating consequences for millions of families across the state.
All Californians deserve access to resources that allow them the opportunity to thrive in their communities. Vital health, nutrition assistance, and other basic need programs are facing multiple federal threats, jeopardizing the existence and sustainability of these lifelines. These threats are being advanced through the federal budget reconciliation process, which is being championed by Republicans in Congress. These unprecedented cuts to vital health care and food access will inflict significant harm and fear on California’s most vulnerable communities.
The billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will be used, in part, to pay for $4 trillion in tax cuts for the already wealthy and profitable corporations. If these proposed cuts are enacted, millions of Californians may delay treatment, go hungry, and face impossible tradeoffs as a result of basic support being pulled from under them.
Cuts to Medi-Cal Will Leave Millions with Impossible Choices
Medicaid — or Medi-Cal in California — is facing over $800 billion in cuts across the next 10 years, reversing much of the recent progress that helped more people across the United States access health care. Medi-Cal currently provides health coverage for over one-third of the state’s population, covering children, pregnant individuals, seniors, and people with disabilities. The reconciliation bill aims to deprive millions of health care by imposing ineffective work requirements and adding new barriers to the program. The following table presents the everyday choices individuals and families would be forced to make in order to afford vital medical services and medication.
Threats to CalFresh Will Deprive Millions of Californians of Food
Congressional House Republicans are poised to significantly cut the country’s anti-hunger program, SNAP — known as CalFresh in California — by $300 billion over the next 10 years which is equivalent to a 30% cut to the program. If the reconciliation bill is passed, this would be the largest cut in the program’s history and would force California to bear up to 25% of the cost of CalFresh benefits for the first time in the program’s history. For a family of three in California, a 30% cut to their benefits would mean a loss of $165 per month for groceries, on average. The following table displays the bundle of groceries that families in different localities across the state may no longer be able to afford due to this CalFresh reduction.
Proposed Federal Cuts Will Directly Harm California’s Most Vulnerable Communities
Programs like Medi-Cal and CalFresh help ensure millions of Californians have adequate resources to thrive. They ensure families can put food on the table and can readily access basic, but life-saving, health care. Republicans in Congress are pushing for cuts to these programs that will make it even harder than it already is for millions of Californians to make ends meet. Budgets reflect our collective values and priorities. Yet, recent proposals in Congress would take our country in the wrong direction — threatening access to essential health care and food assistance for millions, while advancing costly tax breaks that primarily benefit wealthy individuals and large corporations. These choices make clear whose interests are being prioritized — and it’s not everyday people.
In California, state leaders should present an opposing vision that prioritizes ensuring the economic security and well-being of all Californians by increasing revenues to mitigate the harm and increased inequality that federal leaders intend to cause.
