AC C E S S TO C A R E
MEDI-CAL PATIENTS FACE HURDLES TO SEE SPECIALISTS THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA by Elizabeth Zima
6
MAY 2017
CALIFORNIA’S COMMUNITIES face a severe shortage of physicians, which is expected to get exponentially worse as the population continues to grow and our aging physician workforce moves toward retirement. Medi-Cal enrollment has surged since 2014, but the percentage of California physicians serving Medi-Cal patients has dropped, a trend that is hampering access to care for enrollees. One in every three Californians (14 million) is dependent on Medi-Cal for healthcare, so this disparity also negatively impacts a patient’s ability to access needed treatment, according to a recent study by the California Health Care Foundation. There is a fundamental problem with Medi-Cal that is hindering patient access to care, and to specialists in particular: Medi-Cal physician reimbursement is so low that physicians cannot cover the cost of providing care. Currently, California has some of the lowest reimbursement rates for providers ($18 for an office visit), creating an unsustainable disparity between the number of Medi-Cal patients and the physicians who are able to accept them as patients.