California hospitals want to pay new fees but may not get the chance

Under a plan by California hospitals to access $2 billion in federal funds, a new "provider" fee would make them eligible for the money as subsidies for Medi-Cal, California's health insurance program for the poor. Hospital officials say existing reimbursement rates cover only a fraction of treatment costs, forcing some hospital networks and county-run facilities to absorb hundreds of millions of dollars in losses and leading more private providers to leave Medi-Cal. But fiscal conservatives are trying to persuade the governor to block the new levies on the institutions that want them.