California must protect essential health care. That’s where Prop. 35 comes in | Opinion 

With less than a month before Election Day, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California is hard at work to ensure reproductive health care is a fundamental right; to ensure that extreme anti-abortion politicians stay out of elected office; and to restore essential rights that have been stripped from too many over the last two years.

Intrinsically connected to that work is our effort to make sure voters understand how important Proposition 35 is for the millions of Planned Parenthood patients served in California — as well as all residents throughout the Golden State.

Prop. 35 will address California’s most urgent health care needs by securing dedicated, ongoing funding to protect and expand access to health care without raising taxes on individuals. Specifically, the measure will provide resources for Medi-Cal, the health insurance program that provides coverage for nearly 15 million Californians.

The proposition works by extending an existing levy on health insurance companies that will otherwise expire in 2026.

Because of abysmal funding over the last two decades, it has become increasingly challenging for health care providers to see Medi-Cal patients. In fact, the state has redirected $30 billion in health care funding to non-health care programs over the last 15 years. As a result, providers can no longer take on new patients and keep their doors open; hospitals and clinics are closing or being forced to consolidate services; and patients are waiting months for care.

We need to take action to protect essential health care, which is why voters have the chance to weigh in with Prop. 35.

The proposition will help solve California’s health care crisis by extending an existing levy on health insurance companies without raising taxes and dedicate funds to protect and expand access to care for all Californians. The existing levy on health insurance companies would otherwise expire in 2026, but Prop. 35 will permanently extend funding to ensure that Medi-Cal has the resources needed for the patients it serves.

When Medicaid reimbursement rates are as low as they are in California, it limits access to care, causing bad health outcomes for Medicaid beneficiaries, according to the Commonwealth Fund. Because California’s Medicaid (Medi-Cal) beneficiaries are disproportionately people of color, the result of a poorly funded Medi-Cal is that Black, Latino and Asian American Pacific Islander patients have a harder time getting equitable access to care.

Prop. 35 will help reduce existing inequities in health care by protecting resources to provide and expand patient access to care within community health clinics like Planned Parenthood, hospitals, emergency rooms, primary care, family planning and mental health services as well as with specialty care providers like oncologists and OB-GYNs.

When a Medi-Cal patient comes to a Planned Parenthood health center for an annual wellness visit and there are indications of cervical cancer, it can often take months for an appointment with a specialist to make a treatment plan. Roughly 80% of Planned Parenthood patients are on Medi-Cal — that means that, sadly, this scenario is something we see all too often.

Prop. 35 puts funding directly into specialty care to ensure that the pipeline of specialists able to see Medi-Cal patients broadens.

The measure also provides funding to help train more health care workers. A California Health Care Foundation study reported that, despite being the largest racial/ethnic group in the state, Latinos only represent 6% of the state’s physicians. To ensure we are offering culturally competent care across not just community clinics, but all health care settings, we need to provide more opportunities for communities of color to be represented within care teams.

Prop. 35 will guarantee that health care dollars are spent as they were intended: on treating patients. That’s the initiative requires annual independent performance audits to ensure funds are spent effectively and as planned.

Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California urges voters to join the hundreds of groups and organizations that will be voting yes on Prop 35.

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