An Update on the Public Health Laboratory System After the Pandemic

Jun 12, 2025 - Figure  2 shows these pre-pandemic funding trends, as well as funding trends during and after the pandemic (discussed later). Many Local Public Health Laboratories Had Closed in Years Prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5056

The 2025-26 Budget: Medi-Cal Pharmacy Spending

Apr 3, 2025 - Somewhat less notably, spending also has increased for drugs that help control blood sugar, kidney disease, and heart disease among diabetics (known as Sodium ‑Glucose Cotransporter  2, or SGLT2, inhibitors).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5026

The 2025-26 Budget: Overview of the Governor's Budget

Jan 13, 2025 - Specifically, the Governor ’s budget assumes (1)  a $620  million ($230  million General Fund) reduction through the permanent elimination of 6,500 vacant positions and associated funding and (2)  a $1.5  billion ($820  million General Fund) in 2024 ‑25 and $2  billion ($1.2  billion General Fund) in 2025 ‑26 and ongoing reduction to state operations expenditures.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4951

The 2025-26 Budget: CalAIM Enhanced Care Management and Community Supports Implementation Update

Mar 6, 2025 - As shown in Figure  2 , MCPs have been required to provide the ECM benefit to members based on a list of eligible POF categories that have grown over time. These POFs are intended to direct the benefit to members who would especially benefit from personalized care coordination, such as individuals at risk for avoidable hospitalization or emergency department utilization.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5003

The 2025-26 Budget: Understanding Recent Increases in the Medi-Cal Senior Caseload

Mar 6, 2025 - As discussed above, the elimination of a Medi ‑Cal share of cost for certain seniors provides about 30,000 of the 165,000 estimated senior growth due to eligibility expansions, leaving 135,000 of the growth to allocate between two eligibility expansions: (1)  the older adult expansion and (2)  the asset test elimination.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5010

Building California’s Behavioral Health Infrastructure: Progress Update and Opportunities for the Proposition 1 Bond

Feb 5, 2025 - RAND estimated that the shortage varied substantially by region, as illustrated in Figure  2 . Across  all bed types, the shortage is generally most severe in the southern San Joaquin Valley, Inland Empire, Central Coast, and San Francisco Bay Area.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4954

The 2025-26 Budget: Medi-Cal Fiscal Outlook

Nov 20, 2024 - In line with this risk, our outlook assumes future rule changes result in a much smaller MCO tax in 2 027 (around the size of the version that existed from 2020 through 2022). That said, other effects also are possible.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4941

The 2025-26 Budget: Health Care Access and Information

Feb 20, 2025 - This is because (1)  generic drugs often do not require the same level of research and development to go to market and (2)  entry of generic drugs creates market competition that drives down prices. As   Figure  6 shows, while brand drugs represented a small share of commercial health plan fee‑for‑service claims in 2021, they comprised a majority of spending.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4979

The 2025-26 Budget: MCO Tax and Proposition 35

Feb 26, 2025 - These steps include: (1)  forming the stakeholder advisory committee; (2)  consulting with the newly formed committee; (3)  structuring the new augmentations; and (4)  where necessary, obtaining federal approval (such as by submitting permanent state plan amendments or limited-term waivers).
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4992

The 2024-25 California Spending Plan: Health

Sep 17, 2024 - The spending plan includes $800,000 of one-time funding in 2024-25 and $2  million ongoing General Fund to support CCR and maintain data system integrity. Health Care Access and Information Ratchets Down HCAI Spending.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4930