Voters can backfill cuts that threaten care by passing the Billionaire Tax this November
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new analysis from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform reveals that 16 rural California hospitals are at risk of closure due to serious financial challenges, including five hospitals identified as being at immediate risk of shutting their doors.
The report comes as hospitals across California face mounting financial pressures. The federal government recently cut tens of billions of dollars from California’s healthcare system, which will almost certainly force rural hospitals to close.
Healthcare workers, patients, and advocates warn that without action, more rural hospitals will face service reductions, layoffs, or closure in the years ahead.
“The choice is simple,” said Debru Carthan, a spokeswoman for the Billionaire Tax Now Coalition. “Hospitals can close, or we can ask billionaires to finally pay their fair share to keep hospitals open.”
Rural hospitals often serve as the only source of emergency and inpatient care for entire regions. Passage of the California Billionaire Tax Act is the only way to override the effects of massive federal healthcare funding cuts that will continue to push key parts of the California healthcare system to the brink of collapse, or worse.
“These numbers should serve as a wake-up call for every Californian,” said Frank Espinosa, California contract specialist who previously worked as a floor tech at Mercy Medical Center in Redding, California. “Without immediate action, patients will be stranded: no emergency services, and no way to access care for miles. It’s not a question of if patients will die, but how many we will lose. No family should lose access to lifesaving healthcare because billionaires insist on paying lower tax rates than the rest of us.”
The more than 400 hospitals statewide have already laid off more than 3,400 healthcare workers as of mid-March, with a second wave of layoffs expected as funding cuts tied to recent federal policy changes are phased in over the next several years. Statewide, projections show the cuts could result in the loss of up to 145,000 healthcare jobs, impacting hospitals, clinics, and home care providers alike.
Without revenue from the California Billionaire Tax, federal healthcare cuts are expected to put an estimated 83 California hospitals and clinics at risk of closure. Cuts and closures have already started, impacting communities from Los Angeles to Oakland to Glenn County.
In November, California voters will have a chance to make billionaires pay their fair share to help prevent that, through a commonsense ballot initiative that places a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of approximately 200 billionaires who reside in the Golden State. Ninety percent of that funding will go to offset Medi-Cal cuts in order to prevent ER and other service closures, and 10% will go toward funding food assistance and public education.
About the California Billionaire Tax Act
The California Billionaire Tax Act is an emergency initiative to tax the accumulated wealth of the state’s ultra-high-net-worth billionaires in order to safeguard Medi-Cal, keep hospitals and emergency rooms open, protect healthcare workers, expand food assistance, and support public education. The initiative is a direct response to federal healthcare cuts under HR1 that threaten healthcare access and economic stability for millions of Californians.
| Paid for by Save California Health Care and Public Education, Sponsored by Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West. Committee’s Top Funder Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West |
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