Clash Of Publicly-Funded Health Clinics With California’s Budget Woes.

In 2009, California passed Welfare and Institutions Code section 14131.10, as a cost- cutting measure. The statute eliminated certain Medi-Cal benefits that the state deemed optional, including adult dental, podiatry, optometry and chiropractic Health Clinic services, and discontinued reimbursement for those Health Clinic services. The Ninth Circuit stated: “We hold that Medicaid prohibits the limitations adopted by the California legislature.” California Association of Rural Health Clinics v. Toby Douglas, Director of the California Department of Health Care Services  (Ninth Cir.; July 5, 2013.) (Case No.’s 10-17574, 10-17622).