What the Massive Medicaid Cuts Mean for Your Health Care

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An estimated one in three Californians are insured by Medi-Cal, the state version of Medicaid. But as the federal government cuts billions in funding and imposes new work requirements and paperwork processes, many Californians could lose their coverage. Meantime, in anticipation of the cuts, hospitals and health clinics are already cutting services and closing locations; the state is scrambling to step in while maintaining a balanced budget. We take stock of what the new Medi-Cal landscape means for everyone’s access to health care in California and the Bay Area. Guests: Tyler Sadwith, California State Medicaid Director; Chief Deputy Director of Health Care Programs, California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Dr. Milana PeBenito, medical doctor of Family Practice, Maternal and Child Health; member, Sonoma County’s Maternal Child, Adolescent Health Advisory Board Angela Hart, senior correspondent, KFF Health News Kristof Stremikis, director of market analysis and insight, California Health Care Foundation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:30.9	in your best interest. From KQED. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:39.3	Access to health care is wildly unequal. One of the ways that our country agreed decades ago to make society more equal was Medicaid,
0:47.3	health care for lower income people, which is largely funded by the federal government, but managed through the states and on down to the counties. Here in California, the local variant of Medicaid is called Medi-Cal, and basically a third of Californians rely on it.
1:01.0	The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress passed cuts to the program, the last big budget bill, and now those cuts are hitting.
1:09.0	Here to discuss what may happen to our region's health care system,
1:12.0	as billions of dollars are pulled out of it over the next decade,
1:15.4	we're joined first by Tyler Sadwith,
1:17.6	California State Medicaid Director.
1:19.2	He's the chief deputy director of health care programs
1:22.6	in the California Department of Health Care Services.
1:25.6	Welcome, Tyler.
1:27.3	Thank you. Good morning. Glad to be here.
1:29.4	So from your perspective, as a person who has to implement these things, give us sort of the
1:33.5	top line of what you see happening as a result of these budget cuts. Thank you. It's a tremendous
1:43.3	impact on the 14 million Californians who rely on Medi-Cal to receive
1:50.4	healthcare and supports. Taking a step back, this year is actually the 60th anniversary of Medi-Cal.
1:58.4	And the cuts that were passed in HR-1 last year represent the most significant
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