When Martha Santana-Chin takes the helm next month of Westlake-based L.A. Care Health Plan – the nation’s largest publicly operated health insurer – she will face a daunting array of challenges, from cutbacks in government funds to potential deportation of many of those it insures.
L.A. Care serves more than 2.6 million members in Los Angeles County. Its mission is to provide access to quality health care for the county’s low-income communities, and to support the safety net required to achieve that purpose.
Santana-Chin, who spent 11 years in executive posts at Woodland Hills-based Health Net, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Centene Corp., will become L.A. Care’s first woman and first Latina chief executive when she assumes the post on Jan. 6. Prior to joining Health Net, she held posts in organizations dedicated to providing services for underserved communities both in L.A. County and throughout the state.
She will succeed John Baackes, who is retiring after nine years leading the insurer through a major expansion of its scope. Under Baackes’ tenure, L.A. Care’s membership base has grown to 2.6 million residents in L.A. County from 1.7 million in 2015. The number of physician networks has grown exponentially, from 33 practices to 619 practices, each with multiple physicians.
Baackes also launched a raft of new programs as part of a five-year, $155 million-effort to boost the ranks of physicians dedicated to serving low-income Angelenos. These include a scholarship program for medical school students committed to practicing in underserved communities and a school loan repayment program for physicians who establish their medical practice within disadvantaged communities.
Under Baackes’ leadership, L.A. Care even took steps to strengthen the balance sheets of local financially strapped hospitals, including most recently providing a $2 million emergency grant to keep open the doors of Catalina Island’s only hospital through the end of this year.
But now, the growth in physician networks and many of these programs are threatened by budget cuts, both from the incoming second administration of Donald Trump and from Sacramento, where the state faces a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
Santana-Chin said one of her top priorities will be to preserve as much funding as possible through Medi-Cal (the state’s Medicaid program that provides health coverage for the poor) and other sources.
“Medi-Cal has been instrumental in addressing social drivers of health, such as food insecurity and housing,” she said, “But sustaining these efforts will require careful stewardship of health care dollars…We may need to identify opportunities to braid funding from various sources to support our work and maximize our collective impact across county agencies.”
Santana-Chin also will look to take steps to “Trump-proof” L.A. Care from various initiatives coming out of the Trump Administration, including promised mass deportations of undocumented migrants, defunding of reproductive services and restrictions on care for transgender individuals.
“To address these challenges, we are committed to building robust cross-sector partnerships, nurturing grassroots coalitions, and collaborating closely with state leaders,” she said.
“At the local level, we will work diligently to inform and support our members, providers, and stakeholders by providing clear, accurate information and reinforcing their rights, thereby reducing confusion and strengthening trust within the community,” Santana-Chin added.
All this means much of Santana-Chin’s time will be spent making sure L.A. Care members are able to access health care, not on launching bold new initiatives.
“My goal is to ensure that we remain unwavering advocates for our members, ready to support and guide them through any challenges that arise,” she said.
