Medical Center Budget Cut
County Raises Rents, Underfunds Programs

After weeks of delays and no public input, the ACMC draft budget for 2004-05 is finally out! The Board of Trustees tabled this at its June 28th meeting to allow more time for review and comment. As we go to press, a budget work session is pending but has not been scheduled yet.

The draft budget relies not only on Measure A funds and revenue enhancements but also on a number of questionable assumptions to support the need for staff reductions. Even the mythic $71 million 2004 deficit we've been hearing about all year shrank to $61.7million - and would have been $5 million lower if not for the Cambio-induced hemorrhage.

The draft budget projects almost $69 million from Measure A revenues. It also projects a $2.5 million surplus, which Cambio proposes to give to the county as a partial loan repayment, rather than keeping it to minimize staff reductions or for use as a contingency fund. There are a number of other questionable payments involving the county, as well: for example, the county now wants to charge ACMC $1.7 million in annual leases, up from very minimal charges to date. We believe this violates the agreement between ACMC and the county regarding ACMC facilities. It certainly is not the right time to raise the rent!

The biggest chunk of the deficit, however, comes from the county's chronic underfunding of CMSP support. This is the county's program for care of indigent patients; it pays ACMC to fulfill the county's legal obligation under state law. ACMC projects CMSP services costing $94 million, yet the county is reimbursing only $66 million. The county has eliminated the CMSP COLA for 2004-05 and cut base CMSP funding, adding a new $3.53 million loss to its ongoing underfunding of this program. The county also forces ACMC to pick up almost $3 million in outside medical services to the CMSP patients, even though it is the county's obligation to provide care for these indigent patients. The county could use money from its share of Measure A revenue to fund these charges rather than further burdening the Medical Center.

Cambio asserts that the Medical Center can cut some 300 employees without impacting services, yet the County's own budget document concludes that, with the new CMSP reductions proposed, ACMC will serve 1810 fewer patients as well as 1800 fewer inpatient days at John George Psychiatric Pavilion.

Not only does Cambio not take the impact of staff reductions into account with their budget, but they assume an increase in the Average Daily Census despite reduced county support and fewer inpatient staff. Cambio also proposes to reduce overtime and the use of the nurse registry and temporary services - at the same time as they layoff 300 employees!

Staff and community supporters, the voters who approved Measure A, need to say loud and clear that this is no time for the county to raise rents, demand loan repayments, and underfund indigent care!

SB921 Takes Historic Step Forward!

Senate Bill 921, authored by State Senator Sheila Kuehl, which would provide comprehensive health benefits to every Californian at no new cost to the state's general fund, has been passed by the State Assembly Health Committee by a vote of 12 to 5.

Through creating a single, streamlined reimbursement system for medical care, Senator Kuehl comments, "SB 921 will make it possible for every Californian to keep their health care coverage even if they change jobs; start a business; start a family; continue our education; or travel out of state. Our important relationships with the doctors we trust will not be interrupted."

Cost controls in SB 921 would mean that businesses would not be burdened with suddenly rising health care premiums; would no longer have the responsibility for negotiating complicated health care benefits packages for their employees; and would also insure the self-employed.

SB 921 would also relieve doctors and hospitals of the administrative costs associated with multiple insurance plans. Since all patients will be insured, healthcare providers will not have to worry about uninsured patients being unable to pay for the care they receive. Physicians will have a direct voice in the amount of reimbursement they receive. Those reimbursements will reflect the actual costs, on a regional basis, of providing care, and they will come on time. Doctors, not insurance companies, will be in charge of deciding what is medically appropriate for patients.

To all of us who have written letters, made phone calls, lobbied locally and in Sacramento, and engaged in other support activities: congratulations! For further info and to volunteer in this ongoing campaign, please call 540-7085.

July Vote Health membership meeting CANCELLED to encourage supporters to ATTEND A TOWN HALL MEETING, July 22, 6-9pm, First Unitarian Church, 785

14th St. (at Castro), Oakland. This is the first public forum hosted by the new labor/community coalition, CURe ACMC (Citizens United for a Responsible ACMC), featuring a panel discussion on how to keep the Board of Supervisors and ACMC administration committed to implement the vision of Measure A, providing quality health care to all county residents.

KEEP THESE CORPORATIONS IN MIND WHEN YOU SHOP!

According to David Lazarus at the SF Chronicle (6/2/04), deep-pocketed opponents of SB2 have contributed millions of dollars to Californians Against Government-Run Healthcare. Although SB2 isn't perfect, it will cover more than a million uninsured California workers and their families. Leading the pack are McDonald's, Macy's West, Carl's Jr., the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains, Nordstrom, Target, Sears, and Office Depot.

The very name of this coalition is an attack on public healthcare. Let's keep that in mind as we make purchases.

Newsletter committee:
Kay Eisenhower, Brad Cleveland, Paula Friedman
Our thanks to CA Nurses Association for their help in producing this newsletter.