LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Clearlake City Council joined with the Clearlake Police Department last week in welcoming two new police officers and a dispatcher to serve the city.
The swearing-in of the news police department members took place at the start of the council’s Sept. 15 meeting.
Lt. Martin Snyder introduced Amanda Waller, the new dispatcher, and officers Jesus Meza and Hector Sepulveda.
Waller was raised in Lake County, is a graduate of Middletown High School and lives in Clearlake. Snyder said her hobbies are painting, drawing and hiking, and she enjoys spending time with family and loved ones.
Meza is from Porterville in Tulare County and graduated from the police academy in July. He enjoys skateboarding, video games, and time with family, friends and his girlfriend, Snyder said.
Sepulveda, who is from Cutler, also is from Tulare County and graduated from the police academy in July. Snyder said he likes to lift weights, swim and ride ATVs, and Clearlake reminds him of the town where he grew up.
Lt. Tim Hobbs administered the oath of office to the three before family members were welcomed to pin on the officers’ badges.
In other news at the Sept. 15 meeting, the council presented a proclamation declaring Sept. 23 as Native American Day; heard a presentation on the second phase of the Lake County Recreation Center Feasibility Study and supported moving forward to the next steps; approved a mutual aid agreement between the cities of Clearlake, Lakeport, Fort Bragg, Point Arena, Ukiah and Willits; and voted in support of an amendment to the agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric for the use of the community/senior center for emergencies not connected to public safety power outages.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lakeport City Council on Tuesday evening appointed a former member to temporarily fill a vacant seat and continued the hearing for a new residential development.
Following brief interviews with two former council members, Bob Rumfelt and George Spurr, the council appointed Spurr to fill the seat formerly held by Mireya Turner, who resigned in August to take the Lake County Community Development Department director job on a permanent basis.
At its Sept. 6 meeting, the council had directed staff to reach out to former council members to find out if any of them would be interested in filling the remainder of Turner’s term, which expires at year’s end.
Rumfelt served for 16 years on the council, ending in 2010. Spurr left the council at the end of 2020 after serving one term.
After both Rumfelt and Spurr had spoken briefly to the council, the council began to discuss the temporary appointment. Then Rumfelt returned to the microphone and said he was pulling his hat out of the ring in favor of Spurr.
The council then voted unanimously to approve Spurr’s three-month appointment, with Administrative Services Director/City Clerk Kelly Buendia administering the oath of office to Spurr, who was immediately seated on the dais with the other four council members.
There may still be more need for additional council appointments before the year is over, however.
By the time of her resignation, Turner had already signed up to run for a third term and her name will be on the ballot in November.
If she is elected, she will need to resign her post and the council will have to make another temporary appointment, this one for two years, until the next municipal election.
Write-in candidates have until Oct. 25 to sign up to run for Turner’s seat.
In addition, Councilman Michael Green has made it broadly known that he has applied for the District 4 supervisorial seat vacated by Tina Scott. That position will be appointed by the governor.
As a result, the city has begun to seek additional applicants should it need to fill those seats.
In other business, at the request of developer Peter Schellinger, owner of Waterstone Residential, the council voted to continue a public hearing for general plan and zoning changes for his Parkside Residential Project at 1310 Craig Ave.
Schellinger is seeking approvals to build 128 new apartment units and 48 cluster homes on the 15-acre site, next to the original Parkside subdivision near Westside Community Park.
Neighbors at the Parkside subdivision have pushed back on the plan, citing issues such as traffic, wildfire risk and water use.
Schellinger said he had participated in a Zoom meeting initiated by the neighbors, who have expressed their concerns to him directly.
“We are pushing forward to try to get the financing in place,” he said, noting that there is a very unique opportunity now to take advantage of state financing.
He said he would go back and reconvene with the neighbors and would work with city staff on how he would like to proceed.
The council also set special meetings on Dec. 12 and 13 to make appointments to city commissions and committees with terms expiring this year and received an update on the city’s GIS and asset management program.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Thunder, lightning and heavy rain moved across Lake County on Monday evening, causing minor flooding and rock slides in some parts of the county.
A lightning storm began at around 7:30 p.m., and shortly after 8 p.m. heavy rain started to fall.
Over the course of an hour, between 8 and 9 p.m., nearly an inch of rain fell in the Lucerne area, based on Lake County News’ weather station.
Shortly before 8:30 p.m., flooding was reported on Lakeshore Boulevard in Lakeport.
Coinciding with the heavy rain, there was a report of a downed tree blocking the road in the 16000 block of Cobb Boulevard.
At Highway 175 and Adams Springs Road, there were rocks in the roadway at about 8:20 p.m. that were reported to be “larger than a doghouse,” according to the California Highway Patrol logs.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported early in the evening that there were several power outages around Lake County, the largest impacting approximately 2,111 customers in the south county area.
By early Tuesday, most of the south county customers had been restored, with some smaller outages still pending resolution around Hidden Valley Lake, Boggs Mountain, Clearlake and Lakeport.
A hazardous weather outlook remains in effect for Lake County due to more rain that’s forecast through Wednesday.
Less than a quarter of an inch is expected on Tuesday, with the potential for a smaller amount on Wednesday, based on the Lake County forecast.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Lake County’s unemployment rate ticked up slightly in August, as did the state and national jobless rates.
The Employment Development Department said Lake County’s unemployment rate in August was 4.4%, up from 4.3% in July and 7.2% in August 2021.
The farm industry’s employment increased by 23.1% in a month-over comparison, while the nonfarm category was up by 2.7%.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the national unemployment rate in August was 3.7%, up from 3.5% in July and 5.2% in August 2021.
California’s unemployment rate increased in the month of August 4.1% from 3.9% in July, despite the state’s employers adding 19,900 nonfarm payroll jobs to the economy, according to the Employment Development Department. The August 2021 rate was 7%.
California payroll jobs totaled 17,644,600 in August 2022, up 15,980 from July 2022 and up 677,100 from August of last year.
The number of Californians employed in August was 18,564,600, a decrease of 3,900 persons from July’s total of 18,568,500, but up 855,500 from the employment total in August 2021.
The report showed the number of unemployed Californians was 790,900 in August, an increase of 36,300 over the month, but down 549,300 in comparison to August 2021.
August 2022’s 0.2 percentage point gain is the first time since May of 2020 that California’s unemployment rate saw a month-over increase. It was also the 11th consecutive month of nonfarm job gains, which now totals a 690,000 job gain over that time period.
The state has now regained 98.3% (2,711,600) of the 2,758,900 nonfarm jobs lost during March and April of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Employment Development Department said.
Seven of California’s 11 industry sectors gained jobs in August: Leisure and hospitality; trade, transportation and utilities; professional and business services; education and health services; government; financial activities; and mining and logging.
The “other services” category had no change, while industry sectors that showed declines were manufacturing, construction and information.
Lake County’s unemployment rate earned it the No. 38 ranking statewide among the state’s 58 counties.
San Mateo continued to have California’s lowest jobless rate, 2.1%, while Imperial had the highest, 16.2%.
Lake’s neighboring county jobless rates and ranks were: Colusa, 7.6%, No. 56; Glenn, 4.9%, No. 43; Mendocino, 3.4%, No. 18; Napa and Sonoma, tied at 2.8%, No. 6; and Yolo, 3.4%, No. 18.
In other employment news, the Employment Development Department said that in August there were 310,212 people receiving unemployment insurance benefits, down 6,051 from July 2022 and down 328,764 from August of last year.
Additionally, there were 37,200 new unemployment insurance claims in August 2022, down 2,979 from July 2022 and down 26,353 from August of last year.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Dozens of volunteers working at sites around Lake County joined tens of thousands of participants in the 38th Annual California Coastal Cleanup Day, the state’s largest annual volunteer event, organized by the California Coastal Commission and held on Sept 17.
The California Coastal Commission reported that for the past two years the event was limited to self-guided cleanups because of the pandemic, but this year’s cleanup saw more than 600 in-person cleanup sites taking place throughout the state — a return to near full capacity.
Volunteers gathered hundreds of tons of trash at beaches, shorelines, and inland waterways, cleaning up at locations in virtually all of California’s 58 counties. Cleanups took place up and down the coast, from the Oregon to Mexico border, and as far inland as Lake Tahoe.
California’s event is part of the International Coastal Cleanup, the world’s largest volunteer event dedicated to the marine environment, which is organized by the Ocean Conservancy.
With 60% of the cleanup sites reporting, the statewide count stands at 27,185 volunteers.
Those volunteers picked up 220,861 pounds of trash and an additional 29,702 pounds of recyclable materials, for a total of 250,563 pounds or 125 tons.
In Lake County, there were six cleanup sites: Lucerne Harbor Park; Rodan Slough Park, Nice; Library Park, Lakeport; Highland Springs Recreation Area, Lakeport; Konocti CrossFit, Kelseyville; and Austin Park Beach, Clearlake.
Lake County Water Resources said there were 70 Lake County volunteers, who covered 30 miles during the Cleanup Day.
They collected 2,735.66 pounds of trash and 150 pounds of recyclables, Water Resources said.
“We were amazed by the response to the call for self-guided cleanups over these past two years. But it’s not surprising — Californians cherish their coast and want to take care of it,” said the commission’s Executive Director Jack Ainsworth. “Even so, we are so pleased about returning to in-person cleanups. These events really do more than help us capture huge amounts of trash before it enters the ocean. Coastal Cleanup Day brings us together to celebrate our precious waterways and coastal resources as a community.”
Volunteers not only removed trash from the environment today, but they also kept track of all the items they removed as part of one of the world’s largest and longest-running community science projects.
This data, and the trends it displays over the many years in which it has been collected, has revealed a great deal about the extent and nature of the marine debris problem over time, and has provided California with crucial information needed to address the sources of the problem.
Based on past cleanup data, 75% of the debris that volunteers removed today was composed of plastic, a material that never completely biodegrades and has numerous harmful consequences in the environment. Plastic debris can kill wildlife, leach toxic chemicals into the environment, and even introduce them into the food chain.
The data has also shown that up to 80% of the trash on the California coast originates on land, so volunteers across the state helped prevent enormous amounts of trash from ever reaching the ocean, no matter where they participated.
Most unusual items:
Every-day debris and plastic items weren’t the only things found on Coastal Cleanup Day. Volunteers also picked up a number of “unusual” items during this year’s cleanup. The Winners of the 2022 Most Unusual Item contest are:
• Coastal California: A volunteer along the Berkeley shoreline in Alameda County found a large, framed photo of a Jack Russell Terrier. • Inland California: A volunteer in Colusa County found a trophy with a plaque that read “Best Couples Skater 2006.”
In addition to in-person cleanups, the Coastal Commission continues its COVID-inspired push to encourage volunteers to run self-guided cleanups throughout neighborhoods across the state.
The self-guided cleanups serve the same purpose as the Cleanup Day events that took place today: to prevent trash from ever having the opportunity to reach our coast. Self-guided cleanups throughout California help to stop trash where it starts, which is primarily within urban areas most prone to stormwater runoff.
To date, 522 Californians have conducted a neighborhood cleanup, removing 2,437 pounds of trash during 211 cleanups.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hold two days of hearings this week as part of approving the final recommended budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year.
The board will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21, and Thursday, Sept. 22, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
Each day of the hearings has a different Zoom link.
For Wednesday, the Zoom link is here; the meeting ID is 972 4365 5590, pass code 716589. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16694449171,,97243655590#,,,,*716589# or by dialing 669-900-6833
For Thursday, the Zoom link is here; the meeting ID is 946 4937 4295, pass code 716589. The meeting also can be accessed via one tap mobile at +16699006833,,94649374295#,,,,*145426# or by dialing 669-900-6833.
The board will consider a budget with appropriations for all funds totaling $351,946,439, an increase of $32,560,324 from the previous fiscal year, according to the memo to the board from County Administrative Officer Susan Parker and Assistant County Administrative Officer Stephen Carter.
The final recommended budget must be adopted no later than Oct. 2, based on state Government Code.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
An analysis of recent U.S. Census Bureau data shows that parts of the student debt forgiveness plan announced by the administration last month — one of the largest ever — would completely eliminate student debt for a number of borrowers.
The plan would forgive up to $10,000 in federal student debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year and married couples making less than $250,000 a year. Additionally, the student loans of income-eligible individuals who received Pell grants would be reduced by up to $20,000.
The Census Bureau’s recently released 2021 Survey of Income and Program Participation, or SIPP, provides information about student debt balances as of December 31, 2020. Although loan balances would normally change over two years, pandemic policies allowed borrowers to temporarily pause payments without interest.
In addition, any payments made after March 2020 can be refunded and then forgiven. Because of this, amounts owed in student debt in 2020 can serve as an approximation of loan balances in 2022.
In this article, we investigate who among adults not enrolled in college with at least a high school degree will benefit — and by how much — from this proposed policy, assuming all reported student loans in the SIPP are federal and that no one’s student debt will be reduced by more than $10,000.
Who will benefit from $10,000 in student loan forgiveness?
The 2021 SIPP data show that the plan to reduce student loans by $10,000 would completely wipe out balances for 29.0% of those with student debt and that certain demographic groups would benefit more than others.
Some of the largest reductions are expected among Hispanic individuals with an associate degree. A $10,000 reduction in student loans reduces the percentage with any student debt from 14.4% to 7.7%.
While the estimated erasure of student loans is largest for non-Hispanic associate degree holders who are Black alone (identified as Black through the rest of this story) — from 19.9% to 12.6% — this reduction is not statistically different from the reduction for any other race-by-education group.
Individuals with advanced degrees are expected to experience some of the smallest reductions in student loan holding, varying from 1.6 to 3.2 percentage points across race and ethnic groups. These reductions are also small compared to the percentage who held any student debt before forgiveness.
The likely reasons for the differences by education: larger amounts of debt or higher incomes making them ineligible for loan forgiveness. Advanced-degree holders on average had higher student debt ($69,000) than associate-degree holders ($22,000).
Based on income, the share of advanced-degree holders with student debt eligible for debt forgiveness ranges from 75.6% of non-Hispanics who are neither Black nor White to 85.6% of Black borrowers. People who are neither Black nor White include Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander and mixed-race individuals.
However, over 90% of borrowers with an associate degree in all race groups would qualify.
Women typically earn less than men and are more likely to not only have student debt but to owe more than men. As a result, they may have a harder time paying off student loans.
It’s estimated Black and Hispanic women are expected to experience some of the largest reductions in the percentage with any student loans from the $10,000 relief plan: 5.4 and 4.7 percentage points, respectively.
White men are expected to experience among the smallest reductions (2.4 percentage points).
How much of a difference can $10,000 in student loan relief make?
Because student debt burden is sometimes high relative to income, student loans can go hand in hand with other types of unsecured debt. This means student loan forgiveness is expected to have a significant impact on individuals’ overall unsecured debt burden.
Unsecured debt — such as student, credit card or medical debt — is not backed by an asset the way a house backs a mortgage because lenders cannot repossess someone’s education if the individual fails to pay a student loan.
The $10,000 reduction in student debt would decrease the amount of total unsecured liabilities owed by 33.0% on average of those who have any student debt.
Hispanic individuals with a high school degree but no college degree (43.2%) and associate degrees (38.4%) are expected to experience among the greatest reduction in what they owed in unsecured loans. Non-Hispanic individuals who are neither White nor Black with a high school degree, but no college degree (51.7%) and associate degrees (52.2%) are also expected to experience among the greatest reduction of unsecured amounts owed.
The $10,000 reduction in student loans is expected to have some of the smallest impacts on unsecured amounts owed by those with advanced degrees: between 17.5% and 24.2% in unsecured debt across race and ethnic groups.
Hispanic women (40.4%) are expected to experience among the largest shares of unsecured debt relief.
About the data
The strength of SIPP data — and survey data more generally — does not lie in estimating the total number of borrowers whose student debt will be eliminated entirely or the total dollar amount of outstanding student debt that will be relieved.
Rather, the strength of SIPP data is its rich description of who will benefit and how much of a difference student loan forgiveness might make in the context of student loan borrowers’ assets and other debts.
In addition, SIPP returns to interview the same individuals over the course of several years.
Consequently, future SIPP data will show how student loan forgiveness affected sample members’ student loan balances as well as any subsequent influences on their family formation, business formation, program participation and well-being (financial or otherwise).
SIPP does not ask borrowers whether their student loans are federal or private. Estimates from other sources are that private student loans made up less than 15% of total student debt in 2012. As a result, this research assumes all student loans are federal and this assumption tends to bias the impact on debt burden upwards.
SIPP does not collect information about Pell grant recipients, who would get up to a $20,000 debt relief on federal student loans. This research assumes student debt reduction of no more than $10,000, which tends to bias the impact on debt burden downwards.
We are unable to determine the overall value of the counteracting effects from the above assumptions.
SIPP is a nationally representative, longitudinal survey administered by the Census Bureau that provides comprehensive information on the dynamics of income, employment, household composition and government program participation.
Neil Bennett is an economist in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division. Michael D. King and Mark A. Klee are survey statisticians in the Census Bureau’s Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division.
LAKEPORT, Calif. — The city of Lakeport reported that it is anticipating the vacancy of one or more City Council seats and seeking applications from interested parties.
The person or person who will be appointed will serve approximately two years, with a term ending in 2024.
Those interested in being considered for appointment to serve as council member on the Lakeport City Council are invited to submit a council member vacancy application.
The application can be obtained online at www.cityoflakeport.com or at Lakeport City Hall, located at 225 Park St., Lakeport.
Qualified candidates must reside in Lakeport city limits, be at least 18 years of age and registered to vote in the city of Lakeport.
The five-member City Council serves as the legislative body of the city and is responsible for setting policy, adopting the annual budget, adopting laws, determining services to be provided and the funding levels, and appointing citizens to its advisory boards and commissions.
Applications may be submitted electronically to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or in person, at Lakeport City Hall.
Completed applications must be returned to the Office of the City Clerk no later than Thursday, Dec. 13, at 5 p.m.
Once the application period has closed, the applications will be distributed to the City Council for review.
The City Council will decide at a future council meeting on the process to use for the appointment.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Community members are invited to review and comment on the 2022 Draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan and take part in an upcoming workshop.
The draft Community Wildfire Protection Plan, or CWPP, was developed in partnership with the Lake County Fire Safe Council, Lake County Community Risk Reduction Authority, Lake County Resource Conservation District, or RCD, Clear Lake Environmental Research Center, Lake County’s Fire Protection Districts and members of the Lake County Fire Chiefs Association.
During early stages of draft development, initial feedback was obtained through the public meetings of Municipal Advisory Councils and other community groups, particularly as the Lake County Fuel-Reduction & Prevention Priorities List and Action Plan, central to the document, were being crafted.
The draft CWPP is now available for public inspection and comment.
Government-to-government feedback period open now
On Sept. 14, a workshop was held for Lake County government entities interested in providing “government-to-government” input regarding the draft CWPP and the process undertaken to develop it.
Thursday, Sept. 15, marked the beginning of a 15-day period for local governments to submit written government-to-government input.
Those commenting on a particular portion of the draft report are asked to provide references (e.g., page numbers, paragraph numbers, etc.), to allow ready identification of the content proposed to be changed.
For written government-to-government input to be considered prior to the upcoming public-facing CWPP Workshop, submit your comments to Deputy County Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. no later than close of business on Friday, Sept. 30.
Representatives of government entities that were unable to attend the Sept. 14 workshop are likewise invited to contact Rothstein to convey any needs or request additional information.
CWPP workshop to be held Oct. 5
On Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 6 p.m. the CWPP public workshop will be held in the Board of Supervisors’ chambers, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport. In-person capacity is limited.
Participation via Zoom also will be available. The Zoom link is here; webinar ID is 970 8710 0871, pass code is 579561 and one tap mobile, +16699006833,,97087100871#,,,,*579561#.
From any mobile or landline phone, you may also dial 1-669-900-6833, and enter the Meeting ID and Passcode above, when prompted. To contribute to this meeting from a phone, press *9 to raise your hand, and *6 to unmute, once you are recognized to speak.
Thursday, Oct. 6, will mark the beginning of a 30-day formal period for written public input. Written public comments can be submitted to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
As with the government-to-government feedback process, those commenting on a particular portion of the draft report are asked to provide references (e.g., page numbers, paragraph numbers, etc.), to allow ready identification of the content proposed to be changed.
The formal public input period will end at close of business on Monday, Nov. 7. Some members of the community have already chosen to submit written comments, ahead of the formal submittal window.
On Wednesday, Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) voted to pass the Presidential Election Reform Act, a significant bipartisan bill that would reform the Electoral Count Act in the wake of the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 and other illegal attempts by the former president and his allies seeking to overturn the 2020 election.
The bill passed the House by a vote of 229-203. The bill now heads to the United States Senate.
“The former president and his allies sought to overturn the will of the people and subvert the peaceful transfer of power that is fundamental to our democracy,” said Thompson. “These same bad actors conducted a coordinated effort in an attempt to exploit ambiguities in the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to refuse the count of electoral votes and deliver an alternate and false slate of electors. The Presidential Election Reform Act will take vital steps to reform the Electoral Count Act and ensure that the will of the people cannot be overturned.”
The bipartisan Presidential Election Reform Act takes a number of specific steps to safeguard our democracy.
First, this bill would clarify the role of the vice president in the joint session of Congress solely as ceremonial, reaffirming that the vice president does not have the right to reject or alter official state electoral slates.
Second, members of Congress can only object to a state’s electoral count under constitutionally protected reasons, and the objection threshold is raised to one-third of each chamber.
Third, this bill would require governors of each state to transmit to Congress the lawful election results. If the governors fail to carry out these duties, candidates may bring suit in federal court to ensure Congress receives the lawful slate of electors.
Fourth, federal law will make clear that rules governing elections cannot change after the election has occurred, preventing those who are upset with a lawful outcome from retroactively altering the outcome.
Thompson represents California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
Julie Donohue, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences and Eric T. Roberts, University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences
But unlike Medicaid expansion under the ACA, these pandemic policies are temporary. They will end once the federal government’s COVID-19 public health emergency expires. Some experts predict Medicaid enrollment could fall by as many as 15 million people when this happens, disrupting health care for many Americans.
In a new article we published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Sept. 20, 2022, we examine how Medicaid serves Americans, analyze the program’s importance for health equity, and assess how Medicaid grew and changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As health policyresearchers, we believe that Medicaid’s growth since 2020 highlights the program’s importance during economic and public health crises. It also underscores how painful the unwinding of these pandemic policies is likely to be to those who may end up uninsured.
Federal changes
In March 2020, Congress passed the first of several large spending packages, called the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. To help states shoulder increased Medicaid costs associated with the pandemic, that measure increased the share of Medicaid spending the federal government pays for by 6.2 percentage points in all states.
This aid has made a big difference for states, which split the costs of Medicaid with the federal government. Before the pandemic, the federal government was paying about 65% of Medicaid’s costs overall, with the precise share varying based on a state’s average income. States picked up the other 35% of Medicaid costs. These costs accounted for more than one-fourth of state budgets before the pandemic.
These changes helped to address longstanding instability in Medicaid coverage for many people. Before the pandemic, nearly 25% of those with Medicaid would enter or exit the program each year as their short-term circumstances changed.
People would lose Medicaid coverage when their income ticked up, their family circumstances changed, they aged out of CHIP, or they failed to complete required paperwork. Losing Medicaid coverage can lead to someone ending up without any health insurance at all, which increases the likelihood they will postpone or never get needed care. Having the same people frequently entering and exiting the program also increases the program’s administrative costs over time.
Changes to Medicaid policy in response to the pandemic made it much easier for everyone enrolled in Medicaid to keep their coverage. To illustrate, just over half of Wisconsin’s Medicaid growth in 2020 came from that state keeping existing enrollees in the program who might otherwise have lost coverage for at least a few months.
Young adults, especially those aged 18 and 19, and Americans who recently gave birth are two groups that benefited from this change in Medicaid policy.
What’s next
Even with many aspects of daily life getting back to normal, and President Joe Biden’s comments to the media about the pandemic being “over,” the official public health emergency that spurred Medicaid enrollment growth still remains in force.
When the emergency ends, states will have to reevaluate eligibility for everyone with Medicaid within 12 months. Extra federal funding for states will also end.
These changes will have profound consequences. Millions of people will have to reestablish their eligibility for Medicaid and are at risk of losing coverage if they do not complete the required paperwork on time.
The administration may ultimately decide to renew the COVID-19 emergency declaration again, as hundreds of Americans are still dying daily from the disease. Keeping it in place would prevent a massive drop in Medicaid enrollment and make it easier to continue other COVID-19 public health policies, such as making free COVID-19 testing and vaccinationswidely available.
Beyond extending the public health emergency, we believe that states and the federal government can seek new ways to minimize disruptions in coverage and to make Medicaid more accessible to the millions of Americans who depend on it for health insurance.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Talking about suicide can be uncomfortable. However, open, honest discussion on this important topic saves lives.
Since 2008, September has been recognized as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.
This is a great time to raise awareness, offer help to those in need and promote healing.
Suicide is among the leading causes of death in the United States.
Tragically, more than 45,900 people died due to self-directed injury in 2020. It was the second leading cause of death among individuals 10 to 14 and 25 to 32, third among those 15 to 24, and fourth for individuals aged 35 to 44.
Untreated mental health or substance use conditions often contribute to suicide events, and services are available right here in Lake County. Information on Lake County Behavioral Health Services’ programs and offerings is accessible here.
Reducing emotional pain, enhancing social connection and improving overall quality of life are the most effective ways to reduce the intensity and frequency of suicidal feelings and thoughts.
Please remember, suicide is preventable. Each of us has a role to play to save lives and create strong and healthy individuals, families, and communities.
Just last year, Lake County Behavioral Health Services trained more than 700 individuals in suicide prevention.
After many years of advocacy and preparation, 9-8-8 is also now available 24/7 as the new number to call or text to get connected with support in the event of a suicide crisis.
Information on Lake County Behavioral Health Services’ programs and offerings is accessible here.
Please join Lake County Behavioral Health Services in helping raise public awareness on this complex subject, and doing what you can to support those to whom you are connected.
For more information, please contact Lake County Behavioral Health Services at 707-274-9101 or 707-994-7090.