No Budget, No Payments for Some


Share |
(Sacramento, CA)
Friday, June 27, 2008
No budget at the start of the new fiscal year means some big bills won’t be paid. It’s a bad time for some providers of Medi-Cal services. That program provides health care to needy Californians. Michelle Clark serves seventy people who are developmentally disabled in Upland. They need constant medical care and all are on Medi-cal. To meet her nearly 300-thousand dollar monthly payroll she’s looked into a bank loan from banks. She’s gotten a private loan. She says it’s a last resort as it carries a huge interest rate. "That’s going to wipe out any profit we would have made this year. So I’m still trying to work with a couple of banks if not to fund the whole amount—to fund a part of it.” There are two billion dollars in state and federal funds that can be paid out to such providers in the absence of a budget—but that money is expected to be used up in July. State lawmakers must fill a multi-billion dollar budget deficit— and have said they did not expect to meet the July first deadline.