By David Gorn, California Healthline
Thousands of doctors, dentists, patients, health care professionals and other protesters are expected to gather Tuesday outside the Capitol Building to support the idea of reversing a 10 percent Medi-Cal provider rate cut. Organizers say it will be the largest health care protest in Sacramento history.
"We have people hopping on buses in Oceanside at 4 in the morning to get here," said Molly Weedn, director of media relations for the California Medical Association. "People are coming from all over the state, and we've seen support from both sides in the Legislature. All of this [support] shows that the public doesn't want Medi-Cal to be cut, so that's why we're doing this."
It has been a tough couple of weeks for proponents of reversing the rate cut made in 2011 and not yet implemented because of court battles.
On May 24, the Ninth Circuit federal appeals court ruled the Medi-Cal cut to be legal, and lifted the injunctions on its implementation. That means the lawsuits to reverse the reduction now have only legal recourse, and that's an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.