During Tuesday’s Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting, Health and Human Services Director Christy Coleman will make a presentation on the real-world human impact of the Trump Administration’s centerpiece legislation, last year’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”. Federal spending on Medicaid, which is “Medi-Cal” in this state, is being reduced by over $900 Billion through 2034. The burden on counties implements fiscal penalties if they fail strict requirements to regularly check the eligibility of recipients of CalFresh/SNAP, Medi-Cal and other programs. The new rules also greatly increase work requirements. The county’s share of administrative costs is going from 50% to 80%. The “County Medi-Cal Services Program”, or “CMSP”, requires the county to provide a variety of services to indigent patients, but there will be a huge gap between the requirements and the funding. There will also likely be deep cuts to substance use disorder and mental health services. For a county like Shasta, which has a large population receiving government assistance, the effects have been devastating, and will get much worse in October and into next year.
-Steve Gibson