:: blame the extended gestation.... ::

:: Saturday, January 10, 2004 ::

California Insider - A $1 billion hole:

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's first budget, I'm told, is likely to be $1 billion out of whack on the day it's proposed. That's because it includes reductions in payments to Medi-Cal providers that have been struck down by a federal judge. In addition to the 5 percent cut approved by the Legislature and Gov. Gray Davis last summer, Schwarzenegger was looking to cut another 10 percent from rates paid doctors, hospitals and other providers in the coming year. But federal Judge David Levi ruled those cuts invalid in a Christmas Eve order. By then, the budget document Schwarzenegger will propose Friday had already been put to bed. So the cuts -- and the potential savings to the state -- will show up as part of the plan even though it is extremely unlikely that they can be implemented any time soon, if ever."

:: Jim Nichols 1/10/2004 12:23:00 AM [+] ::
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