Most people do not think about specialty care until they need it. Physical therapy, mental health services, speech and occupational therapy, specialist referrals for chronic conditions—this is the part of healthcare that keeps people out of emergency rooms. It is what turns a hospital stay into real recovery.
As a physical therapy assistant, I work at the intersection of acute care and long-term health. What I am seeing now, as federal cuts strip away Medi-Cal funding, is not just a budget problem, but a crisis. H.R. 1 represents the largest reduc-tion to federal Medicaid funding in American history: nearly $1 trillion in cuts over ten years.
When people lose access to specialized care, the consequences do not always show up imme-diately. Someone who cannot complete a course of physical therapy after surgery may appear stable in the short term but is far more likely to fall, re-injure, or be readmitted within months. Before the health care cuts, a standard course of physical therapy might have covered twelve visits. Now we are seeing that coverage reduced to six.
Nearly half of the part-time staff at my com-pany have been laid off due to Medi-Cal cuts. We lost physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists. When specialized posi-tions disappear, they do not come back quickly, and the patients who depended on those services have nowhere else to turn.
Washington has cut $800 million from LA County’s Medi-Cal funding. Seven public health clinics have already closed. More than 200,000 Angelenos have lost coverage, equating to rough-ly 1,100 people each day. These patients don’t just disappear. They show up at the remaining facilities, where specialty services are already overwhelmed. Many cut short their stay in skilled nursing facilities rather than reach their Most people do not think about specialty care until they need it. Physical therapy, mental health services, speech and occupational therapy, specialist referrals for chronic conditions—this is the part of healthcare that keeps people out of emergency rooms. It is what turns a hospital stay into real recovery.
As a physical therapy assistant, I work at the intersection of acute care and long-term health. What I am seeing now, as federal cuts strip away Medi-Cal funding, is not just a budget problem, but a crisis. H.R. 1 represents the largest reduc-tion to federal Medicaid funding in American history: nearly $1 trillion in cuts over ten years.
When people lose access to specialized care, the consequences do not always show up imme-diately. Someone who cannot complete a course of physical therapy after surgery may appear stable in the short term but is far more likely to fall, re-injure, or be readmitted within months. Before the health care cuts, a standard course of physical therapy might have covered twelve visits. Now we are seeing that coverage reduced to six.
Nearly half of the part-time staff at my com-pany have been laid off due to Medi-Cal cuts. We lost physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists. When specialized posi-tions disappear, they do not come back quickly, and the patients who depended on those services have nowhere else to turn.
Washington has cut $800 million from LA County’s Medi-Cal funding. Seven public health clinics have already closed. More than 200,000 Angelenos have lost coverage, equating to rough-ly 1,100 people each day. These patients don’t just disappear. They show up at the remaining facilities, where specialty services are already overwhelmed. Many cut short their stay in skilled nursing facilities rather than reach their