Listen to the Regents' Health Services Committee Meeting of Feb. 12, 2020

The Regents' Health Services Committee met at UCLA on February 12 for one of its regular off-cycle meetings. A link to the audio of the session is provided below.

As usual, the meeting began with public comments. Most of the public comments were made by speakers opposing UC contracts with Dignity Health, a Catholic-affiliated hospital chain which for religious reasons doesn't provide abortion and other sex-related services. There was a brief mention of opposition to a tuition increase by one speaker. Another speaker promoted the use of bicycles for health reasons.

During the official presentations, some interesting facts related to the financial condition of the UC health enterprise were mentioned. State Medi-Cal (the California version of Medicaid) reimburses UC for about 70% of the cost of the care provided. Medicare also under-reimburses and is a growing component of revenue (presumably because of the general aging of the baby boom). Cancer treatment is apparently a profit center that helps cross-subsidize other forms of care. Finally, there is considerable concern that the Trump administration will make cuts to federal programs such as Medicare and Medicaid that would have a major negative effect on the health enterprise.

You can hear the audio at:

or direct to:
https://archive.org/details/regentshealth21220