Transcription
So, what the Trump administration said in HR1 in the budget bill was the state is no longer able to enact these taxes on Medicaid plans in ways that they're not doing for private plans. So, California overnight had to basically reduce this tax on Medicaid plans. So, you go from Leslie $7 billion, $8 billion coming in every year to basically nothing. Tens of millions dollars overnight.
Newsom is trying to figure out a way, okay, how do I make up for this in some way and bring in more money for this really expensive system. What he lands it on is putting a new tax on private health care plans.
Now, the reason why this is politically sticky is those costs are likely going to get passed down to consumers, to people who have private health care plans at a time when Newsom and Democrats are railing against Republicans for cutting subsidies to private health care plans. So, it it becomes a difficult political issue when you're talking about something that could end up costing folks $100 a year in premium increases.
And even more politically sticky, Newsom has to get federal approval for this. Because it's this kind of interplay between federal and state dollars, he has to go to the Trump administration and say, "Can I go ahead and do this?" And that's where we are right now, waiting for that decision.
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