KCAL Insurance Agency
Phone: (800) 681-8288 E-mail: info@kcal.net
Revised budget plans
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to present a revised budget plan Friday that would dismantle some of California's landmark healthcare programs after efforts to scale them back have been reversed by federal courts. Administration officials declined to reveal specific programs, but they may include the dismantling of the Healthy Families program, which uses federal money to help provide health insurance for about 900,000 low-income children. The administration warned in January that it would try to abolish the program if the state's budget situation did not improve- which it has not. The deficit remains swollen at $18.6 billion, or roughly 20% of general fund spending. Federal legislation assumes a substantial expansion of the costly Medicaid programs that officials in California and elsewhere are proposing to abandon.