California schools brace for harmful cuts to Medi-Cal

By Suzanne Potter, Producer

Educators in California are speaking out against plans in Congress to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in the Golden State.

Medi-Cal pays for health care for more than 37% of California’s children, and more than 51% of kids in LA Unified, the state’s largest school district.

Corey Tamblyn, a school psychologist at Pajaro Valley Unified School District in Watsonville, said right now schools get federal dollars to do assessments of Medi-Cal-eligible kids.

“So, a lot of times we serve as the intermediary to identify things that are happening in students, like autism as well as mental health disorders,” said Tamblyn. “Without these monies, I do think that we’re going to be less supportive of our families, more burdens are going to be put on families.”

Studies show that kids who get preventive care through Medi-Cal are less likely to be absent from class, are more likely to graduate from high school and college, and earn higher wages in adulthood.

Massive cuts to Medi-Cal would mean less money to community clinics and rural hospitals that serve low-income families.

And since the state would have to backfill funds to maintain basic levels of care – that would take billions of dollars away from other state budget priorities, such as education and law enforcement.

Tamblyn noted that Medi-Cal also reimburses schools for services to students with disabilities.

“What, essentially, I think it will do is erode and deteriorate services for kids,” said Tamblyn. “It’s kind of putting the most vulnerable kids at risk.”

Last week, the House budget committee, controlled by Republicans, passed a budget resolution that calls for tax cuts of up to $4.5 trillion, which critics say would primarily benefit corporations and the wealthy.

The committee also set a goal of cutting $2 trillion in federal spending.

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