Tens of Thousands of Californians Living With HIV Would be Impacted by Medicaid Cuts Under the Senate Health Bill

There are over 126,000 people living and diagnosed with HIV (PLWH) in California and approximately 5,000 new infections each year. Access to quality, affordable health care is critical to improving the health of PLWH and preventing new infections. Medi-Cal, California’s version of the federal Medicaid program, provided health coverage to 45,033 PLWH in 2014. The Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) would make significant cuts to Medicaid and fundamentally alter how the program is structured and financed. These changes would limit Medi-Cal’s ability to care for PLWH and have a detrimental impact on California’s efforts to end the HIV epidemic.