Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-San Diego, was joined by Sen. Alex Padilla Thursday to discuss the importance of protecting California's Medi- Cal program amid potential cuts from the federal government.
The two Democratic lawmakers said President Donald Trump's proposed plan to slash billions in spending across the federal government would lead to dramatic cuts for Medicaid and its California equivalent, Medi-Cal.
"Medicaid is a lifeline for 1 in 6 people in San Diego County," Jacobs said during a speaking event at Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. "Yet, Republicans in Congress are pushing to cut at least $880 billion from Medicaid — sacrificing people's lives and our economic security in the process — all to pay for big tax cuts for corporations and the 1%.
"We won't give up and we will keep fighting to protect Medicaid."
The Department of Government Efficiency, headed by the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the behest of Trump to find and eliminate waste in government, has spent the last few weeks poring over the budgets of various federal departments, leaving many employees out of work or facing uncertainty over their status.
"Republicans are laying the groundwork to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid in order to pay for President Trump's tax cuts for billionaires," Padilla said. "They've put Medicaid on the chopping block, threatening access to health care for almost 15 million Californians — including 5 million children — enrolled in Medi-Cal.
"California leads the nation in innovative approaches to health care and expanding access to care for our most vulnerable communities, and any cut to Medi-Cal will have a ripple effect on our entire health care system, especially for our kids," Padilla added. "Families are more than just line items on President Trump's expense sheet; they rely on Medi-Cal to survive, and I will never back down from protecting their access to lifesaving care."
Padilla and Jacobs heard from health care leaders, families, and pediatricians on Wednesday on how the proposed cuts to Medicaid's budget would strain services and, they said, raise health care costs for millions of Californians. Last year, nearly 80 million Americans used Medicaid, including nearly 40% of Californians.
Rady's Co-President and CEO, Dr. Patrick Frias, met with the lawmakers. More than half of the hospital's patients are covered by Medi-Cal, along with 65% of San Ysidro Health's patients, according to Veronica Dela Rosa, that organization's executive vice president of operations.
Last month, Padilla joined Senate colleagues to send a letter urging DOGE to halt any cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. Jacobs sent a similar letter in the House with her colleagues to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R- Louisiana.
The DOGE website has an "Agency Efficiency Leaderboard," featuring the agencies where the most money has purportedly been cut, but does not say where savings have come from. Following a New York Times investigation into the claims of savings, the site began obscuring all sources. The Department of Education is first on this list, with multiple reports suggesting that the DOE will be cut in half or eliminated entirely.
A total of 1.2 million people in San Diego County receive support from at least one federally funded assistance program, including 50,000 who receive job training and financial assistance benefits, 400,000 who receive food assistance benefits, and nearly 900,000 who get health care coverage through Medi-Cal.
Trump administration officials have said the DOGE cuts are badly needed to trim fat across the federal government with the nation running at a deficit of more than $1 trillion.
