Health care groups resigned to cuts
Organizations for uninsured and poor take big funding hit under proposed county budget
By Michelle Maitre, STAFF WRITER, Oakland Tribune
Article Last Updated: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 3:36:17 AM PST

OAKLAND -- Community health care organizations that serve the uninsured and poor will take a significant funding hit under Alameda County's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, but several organizations conceded Tuesday that the deal is likely the best they're going to get under current budget constraints.

"There's no point in fighting this," said Mark McConville of the Alliance for Drug and Alcohol Providers. "We're not happy, but we're breathing."

McConville was one of about 10 speakers at a public hearing focusing on the county's proposed budget for health care. County supervisors must approve a budget by June 30 for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

County officials need to close a $98.4 million funding gap and have suggested deep cuts along every area of county government to make up for the loss.

Alameda County's Health Care Services Agency, faced with a $22 million cut, has proposed eliminating a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, it traditionally hands out to organizations that provide health care services.

The county also will withhold a similar 3 percent adjustment from the Alameda County Medical Center, for a total savings next year of a little more than $6 million.

Health Care Director Dave Kears said other savings will be captured by eliminating some vacant positions in his department and cutting discretionary spending and other programs. But he said the COLA reduction will hit community organizations especially hard because "it hits into the base of the programs" available for the uninsured, underinsured and indigent.

"Our contracts are an integral part of our system," Kears said. "The (community-based organizations) are our system."

The cut comes as community organizations are facing other cost pressures and demands for service that are stretch-

ing their resources. Kears -- who worked out his budget with input from community groups -- said the loss of the COLA could have a trickle-down effect that would lead to layoffs in community organizations and a reduced capacity to serve clients.

Ralph Silber, director of the Alameda Health Consortium, which includes eight clinics throughout the county, said the clinics are facing a combined deficit of

$6 million next year. That converts to

10,000 low-income patients who would no longer receive services, Silber said.

Silber said he hopes funds from Measure A, the half-cent sales tax measure approved by voters in March, will help close some of the gap. In the meantime, he said the proposed budget is "as good as it can be in the current environment."

But Jane Garcia with La Clinica de la Raza in Oakland urged supervisors to restore the COLA in upcoming budget deliberations.

"That cost of living does make a difference in our ability to leverage funds," Garcia said.

Other speakers at the hearing included Brad Cleveland, spokesman for Service Employees International Union Local 616, which represents health care workers at the Alameda County Medical Center, who asked supervisors to restore medical center funding.

"Cutting the COLA and the base (funding) of the medical center has a real impact on the people we serve," Cleveland said.

Supervisors will hold final budget deliberations Friday and are expected to formally adopt the budget on Monday. Both meetings begin at 10 a.m. in the supervisors' chambers on the fifth floor of the County Administrative Building, 1221 Oak St., Oakland.

Contact Michelle Maitre at mmaitre@angnewspapers.com