A California tobacco tax ballot measure would create new funding for the state's Medicaid program, reports California Healthline.
The measure, Proposition 56, seeks to raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by $2 and tax e-cigarettes.
Monies raised from the measure — up to $1 billion each year — are projected to fund "improved payments" for Medi-Cal healthcare services, according to the article.
The measure doesn't earmark exactly how much of that money should go to physicians or other health providers, the report states. Rather, the new Medi-Cal funding would be doled out through negotiations during California's yearly budget process, reports California Healthline. Most of the funding presumably would go to groups that provide and oversee care in Medi-Cal: physicians, health plans, clinics and hospitals.
If the measure passes, monies would also go to the University of California to train physicians and toward dental disease prevention efforts.
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