California's public hospital systems are the core of the state's health care safety net and provide care to over 2.5 million residents each year, the vast majority of whom are from low-income families. In order to ensure all patients have access to high quality medical care, CAPH works closely with our public hospital members to ensure they receive adequate state and federal funding to serve all those in need regardless of ability to pay.
Two-thirds of the patients in California's public hospital systems are Medi-Cal recipients or uninsured. Funding to care for these patients largely comes from federal or local sources; however budgetary decisions regarding Medi-Cal and other essential safety net programs are determined at the federal, state and local levels. Therefore, CAPH closely monitors the state and federal budget processes where funding for safety net programs are considered in order to identify the potential impacts to the overall Medi-Cal (or Medicaid) program, funding for counties and safety net systems, and other services that impact our patient population.