On November 14, 2025 by Tim Sheehan, Health Care Reporting Fellow at Central Valley Journalism Collaborative
Central Valley, CA (November 14, 2025) — The chairwoman of the California State Assembly’s Health Committee said changes to the federal Medicaid health insurance program for low-income residents could strip as many as 400,000 San Joaquin Valley residents of medical coverage over the coming decade.
Provisions of House Resolution 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” backed by President Donald Trump and passed by Congress in July, Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Oakland, said, will be “devastating” to California’s Central Valley region by imposing greater work requirements, higher cost-sharing, and more frequent eligibility checks for enrollees in Medicaid – known as Medi-Cal in California
Bonta was joined by Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, D-Fresno, at a roundtable conference of hospital representatives, health clinic operators and public health officials on Nov. 10 in downtown Fresno to listen to concerns about what H.R. 1 and the possible expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credits or subsidies will mean for the region. It is one of a series of such meetings that Bonta is convening throughout California between late October and early January…