A period of administrative reductions in the California Medicaid program, later reversed by court decision, affords opportunity to observe effects upon the provision and utilization of services during and after the cutbacks. Some providers of eliminated services continued to see Medicaid patients during the period of dispute and later were paid. One fifth to two thirds of the affected services' providers immediately dropped out of the program. Proportionate reductions in number of patients were even greater. Upon restoration of services by court order, utilization quickly recovered and soon exceeded former levels, indicating that some health care needs were postponed and taken care of later. The volume of increase, however, amounted to considerably less than the amount of reduction in utilization experienced during the cutback period. About two thirds of the services which would have occurred, particularly in hospitalization, dentistry, and vision care, were not picked up in the ensuing six months of full program operation.