Prop. 35 is endorsed by the Coalition to Protect Access to Health Care, which includes a number of groups involved in health care. These include the California Hospital Association, the California Medical Association, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, labor unions, first responders, and community health centers. Both the California Democratic Party and the California Republican Party support it.
The ballot measure is an opportunity to “invest in providers in a way that allows people to expand the patient population” they serve, and for providers who already help Medi-Cal patients to “expand the services they provide,” said Jodi Hicks, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.
It’s important that “the system as a whole is funded so that patients can get the care they need,” Hicks said. For example, she said, if a Medi-Cal patient can get a mammogram in a clinic, there should also be specialty care available if that mammogram shows something is wrong.
California has made progress in expanding who is eligible for Medi-Cal and what services are covered, “but we need to ensure that people who are in the program can access those services.”
