Editor’s note: As federal health care cuts take effect due to the passage of HR-1, a large federal budget bill called the “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Kern County residents are beginning to feel the strain in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and schools, according to Kellie Pollack, a public health data expert at Kern Medical. Read more here: 

As federal health care cuts take effect, Kern County residents are beginning to feel the strain in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and schools, according to Kellie Pollack, a data analyst specializing in health care.

In January, Kern Family Health Care removed about 7,000 people from its Medi-Cal rolls after open enrollment ended. Pollack said those residents lost coverage after being unable to afford increased costs.

“That’s thousands of people in our community who no longer have access to health care,” she said.

Losing Medi-Cal coverage has wide-ranging consequences, Pollack said. Children may miss vaccinations and required physicals for school sports. Families may delay doctor visits, even when symptoms are serious.

“If you find a lump in your breast or have a cough that won’t go away, you may put it off,” Pollack said. “That leads to a sicker community.”

Children are among those most affected, she said, because they are more likely to experience poverty-related health issues. Schools may see more absences, increased illness on campus and parents missing work to care for sick children.

One of the core problems, Pollack said, is that health insurance in the U.S. is largely tied to employment. 

When someone experiences a serious medical condition such as cancer, a heart attack or a stroke their ability to work may be affected, putting their health insurance at risk at the same moment they need care the most.

“If you can’t work because you’re sick, you can lose your health care,” Pollack said. “That’s a fundamental failure of the system.”

Pollack said health providers also rely heavily on the federal government for public health information, including data on disease outbreaks and effective treatments. 

She said recent changes have limited the flow of that information, making it harder for providers to respond to emerging health threats.

“That information helps us know what diseases are spreading and how best to treat patients,” she said. “Without it, it becomes harder to provide high-quality care.”

The health care system is also affected by rising costs tied to global supply chains. 

Pollack said many medical supplies, including personal protective equipment and medications, are produced outside the United States. New tariffs have increased costs for hospitals already operating on thin margins.

At the same time, hospitals are struggling with staffing shortages. Pollack said nurses are frequently overworked and understaffed, and new federal policies have made it harder to recruit health care workers.

Work visas that once cost $50 now cost $100,000, she said, making it difficult for hospitals to bring in international medical professionals to meet demand.

“We need more people entering the health care workforce,” Pollack said. “Instead, it’s becoming harder and more expensive to do that.”

The effects of these challenges are being felt directly by Kern County residents. 

Medi-Cal plays a critical role beyond routine doctor visits. Pollack said the program pays for most births in Kern County and covers long-term care, hospice services and special education programs in schools.

Nearly 90% of women who give birth in Kern County rely on Medi-Cal or the state’s AIM program to cover prenatal care, hospital delivery and postpartum visits, she said. 

Cuts to that funding could reduce access to care for pregnant patients and newborns.

Special education services are also tied to Medi-Cal funding. Pollack said reductions could limit services for students with disabilities.

Long-term care is another major concern. Skilled nursing facilities can cost between $100,000 and $200,000 per year, costs most families cannot afford without Medicaid support. 

Pollack said hospitals are already struggling to place patients in nursing facilities because providers are unsure whether they will be paid.

“That burden falls back on the hospital,” she said. “And that care often goes unpaid.”

Kern Medical is designated as a disproportionate share hospital, meaning it treats a large number of low-income and uninsured patients. Pollack said federal funding for these hospitals is being reduced.

That funding, she said, was meant to offset the cost of treating patients who cannot pay. Without it, hospitals must absorb those losses, driving up costs elsewhere in the system.

The cuts are being implemented gradually. Higher insurance premiums took effect in October 2025, affecting coverage in 2026. Additional changes scheduled for later this year will increase work requirements for Medicaid recipients.

Under the new rules, recipients must log into an online portal each month to prove they meet work and income requirements. 

Pollack said many people could lose coverage simply because they lack internet access or miss a deadline while dealing with illness, childbirth or other emergencies.

“Staying insured is becoming a job in itself,” she said.

Pollack said the long-term outlook is troubling, especially in Kern County, where access to providers is already limited. Many pregnant patients cannot see an OB-GYN until their second trimester, she said, and primary care appointments are increasingly difficult to obtain.

Without access to primary care, more patients turn to urgent care clinics and emergency rooms for basic needs. That crowds emergency departments and delays care for patients with serious conditions such as heart attacks or traumatic injuries.

“The system is already at an inflection point,” Pollack said. “And these policies are pushing it further.”

California has taken steps to fill some of the gaps left by federal cuts, including joining the World Health Organization for public health guidance and considering legislation that would expand universal health care coverage, she said.

Pollack said proposals such as CalCare and a proposed one-time tax on billionaires could help fund Medi-Cal and maintain access to care if federal support continues to decline.

She encouraged residents to contact their members of Congress, speak with their doctors and stay informed about state-level efforts to protect health care access, including proposed universal health care legislation in California.

“Healthy people make healthy communities,” Pollack said. “If we want our communities to thrive and pass that on to the next generation, we have to make sure people can access health care.”