LOS ANGELES – July 3, 2025 – This week, the U.S. Congress passed a devastating budget reconciliation bill that jeopardizes health care for millions of Americans, including community clinic and health center patients. This dangerous and irresponsible new law will impose unnecessary and burdensome new bureaucratic hurdles, such as increased paperwork and more frequent eligibility redeterminations, that will force nearly 12 million people to lose Medicaid coverage over the next decade.
Los Angeles County clinics and health centers serve more than two million people each year, three quarters of whom have low incomes and rely on the Medicaid program for health care. Health centers already operate on razor-thin margins and will struggle to provide care without reimbursement to newly uninsured patients who lose their Medicaid coverage. Health center outreach and enrollment staff will be overwhelmed by the need to help patients navigate all of these changes and increased red tape. Patients of Planned Parenthood, which the bill locks out of the Medicaid program altogether, will lose access to preventive care, cancer screenings, and reproductive health services. The bill’s limits on states’ use of provider taxes to fund the non-federal share of Medicaid costs jeopardizes Proposition 35—passed overwhelmingly by voters last November—and will force California to consider deep cuts to our Medi-Cal program, beyond those already signed by the Governor last weekend.
These cuts and changes will have a seismic impact on our safety net. Without Medicaid revenue, clinics and health centers will be forced to make difficult decisions, including laying off workers, reducing appointment availability or even closing their doors, severely impacting patient access to care. The situation is dire.
CCALAC is grateful to our Los Angeles members of Congress for their staunch opposition to this reckless bill and their efforts to protect their constituents and communities from its harmful effects. CCALAC calls on elected officials at every level to uphold the values and promises of Health4All and to work with providers and patient advocates to identify sustainable solutions to protect our communities and to preserve California’s coverage gains since the passage of the Affordable Care Act and ensure all people have access to the comprehensive health care they need.
About the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County
Founded in 1994, the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County (CCALAC) is the largest regional association of community health centers in California. Health centers in Los Angeles serve more than 2.02 million patients at over 450 sites across the county. The majority of these patients (74%) have low incomes, and 93% are covered by public insurance or uninsured. CCALAC is dedicated to helping health centers remain at the forefront of health care transformation, in support of the patients and communities they serve. For more information about CCALAC, visit www.ccalac.org or call (213) 201-6500.
Contact: Taryn Burks – Communications Manager, media@ccalac.org | (213) 201-6529.