OC REGISTER - Watchdog still thinks that the hospitals are not on the taxpayer dime

Teri Sforza, Register staff writer Says: September 10th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I wish I understood where you guys are coming from.
Medical care in this country is paid for largely by private insurance companies.
Where do you get the idea that becasue a hospital is nonprofit, it is taxpayer-funded?! I’m really quite bemused.
We’ll get some more specific breakdowns from the hospitals about revenue flow, but you do NOT get taxpayer money because you are a nonprofit hospital.
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HUH????

This is idiotic!

Medi-Cal money IS tax payer money.

Medi-Cal money comes from the state of California. Medi-Cal funds are appropriated funds from US Government healthcare budgets set by the US Congress. The federal government appropriates the money by Congress and issues checks from the agency in DC to the states.

The State of California gets this check and deposits the money in someone's fund. Who knows which bank gets this fund, but someone does.

Apparently, according to Cal Optima, the state of California agency is squatting on this money and not paying them.

However, the Medi-Cal website clearly shows announcements that they are moving checks to the local agencies.

So, someone is lying. Either the Cal Optima position is a lie and they actually do have the money... OR Sacramento is lying and they haven't issued the check... but in BOTH CASES, we know that the HOSPITALS in OC get plenty of Medi-Cal money...because the hospitals REPORT that revenue to OSHPD.