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Written by:
Carmela Castellano-Garcia,
President/CEO California Primary Care Association
Last year’s state budget cuts helped to further strain the healthcare safety net and in many rural communities the cuts caused the end to their access to healthcare. The Potter Valley Health Center in the Ukiah area was forced to close as a result of these cuts and this closure caused a loss of 27 jobs and a loss of access for 3,300 rural Californians. One patient, Nancy March, 78, shared how the closure of the clinic affected her. “I can still drive pretty well, despite having a degenerative eye condition, but my 86-year-old husband is limited to driving in Potter Valley,” which, including surrounding areas, has a population of about 3,000. “It’s going to be a real hardship,” Nancy March said of the prospect of extra trips into Ukiah for medical appointments and laboratory tests. “It also will be tough to find a new doctor because many are not accepting new patients,” she said. Nancy is just one example of the impact of the state budget cuts. In Humboldt, CA, the Open Door Clinic Dental Facility was closed after 30 plus years of operation again leaving thousands of needy people without access to care. Additionally, closures occurred when the Northeastern Rural Health Clinic closed two of their clinic sites in Westwood, CA and in Doyle, CA. These closures caused thousands of additional rural residents to lose their access to care.
Rural residents have borne the brunt of last year’s state budget cuts and now the Governor is back with a new set of cuts that will devastate the safety net to the point that it may not be able to sustain itself. The cuts include 750 million of so called cost containment strategies in Medi-Cal, elimination of the Adult Day Health Care program and the elimination of Healthy Families for children from families above 200% of poverty. This cut will also increase the share of cost for all children in the program, which will reduce access for the children most in need. These are just a few examples of how this budget fails the people of California.
These cuts are a problem for the rural clinics because clinics rely on Medi-Cal for the majority of their income and are already operating on the leanest of budgets. The Governor’s proposed cuts to Medi-Cal will jeopardize their ability to keep their doors open which will cost the state more money by forcing our patients to seek more costly care elsewhere, such as hospital emergency rooms or leave patients with no access point at all.
The current proposed cuts are devastating enough without the Governor additionally proposing trigger cuts that would eliminate the Healthy Families Program, the Family PACT Program, and drop 1 million Californians including hundreds and thousands of children from the Medi-Cal program. These so called trigger cuts would leave the safety net tattered in shreds.
The Governor must include revenues that can come from a myriad of sources including the closing of corporate tax loopholes, taxing oil profits, and by increasing taxes on tobacco and alcohol. Any of these proposals are superior to asking our seniors and children to go without the healthcare they need and deserve.
California's health centers urge the Governor to revaluate his budget priorities and propose a budget that puts the needs of the people of California first!
The California Primary Care Association (CPCA) is the statewide leader and recognized voice representing the interests of California community clinics and health centers and their patients. CPCA represents more than 800 not-for-profit community clinics and health centers (CCHCs) who provide comprehensive, quality health care services, particularly for low-income, uninsured and underserved Californians, who might otherwise not have access to health care.
Except about Nancy March taken from:
Governor's cuts trigger closure of Potter Valley health clinic
By GLENDA ANDERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 6:49 p.m.
About the author:
Carmela Castellano-Garcia, Esq., is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Primary Care Association (CPCA), overseeing an organization of over 800 nonprofit, community-based primary health care clinics which serve over 4 million patients a year, over half of them Hispanic. Ms. Castellano-Garcia has been committed to advancing multi-cultural health policy issues for over 16 years, focusing on areas such as cultural and linguistic competency in health care delivery, ensuring the viability of safety net providers, health care reform, and access to care for vulnerable populations.
Comments or feedback? Email us at advocate@csrha.org. |
