By COURTNEY PERKES
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Feb. 16, 2010
Orange County health care providers on Tuesday denounced $2.9 billion in proposed state cuts that they said would drive the poor, sick and elderly into strained emergency rooms while costing taxpayers far more in the end.
Public health advocates acknowledged California's severe $19.9 billion shortfall, but said the budget should be not be balanced at the expense of the most vulnerable, who could lose coverage of hearing aids, mammogram screenings and medically supervised day care that keeps them out of nursing homes.
"The numbers are daunting," said Dr. Charles Vega, residency director at the UC Irvine Family Health Center. "This is obviously a crisis. I'm really glad I don't treat numbers. I treat patients. To me, these numbers mean real people."
The event, organized by the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics, along with other nonprofit health care providers, was intended to put a human face on the proposed cuts.
Ora Lee Walker, 76, of Anaheim stepped to the podium set up in the lobby of AltaMed's Santa Ana medical clinic, her unsteady gait supported by a walker.
She attends the nonprofit's Cypress adult day health care program twice a week. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating Medi-Cal coverage for the centers. Last year's budget reduced the number of days patients could go, but a judge halted the cut before it went into effect.
"It makes me feel frightened," Walker said. "I live alone. I am alone. This way, I'm around lots of people. They give me breakfast and lunch and take me back home."
Additionally, the center's nurses monitor her diabetes and she receives physical therapy. While Walker lives independently, the program supervises patients with dementia while their caregiver children go to work.
"They reduce costs by avoiding expensive and unwarranted inpatient care," said Dr. Albert Chang, a pediatrician and Alta Med's medical director for Orange County.
Without coverage for those frail patients, he said at least 30 percent would need to be moved into a more costly skilled nursing facility with the tab picked up by Medi-Cal.
Health care officials outlined the following potential impacts to Orange County:
•The County could lose an estimated $15 million for adult day care centers and Medi-Cal benefits for legal immigrants who have been in the country less than five years. For Healthy Families, the state's low-cost health insurance program for children, an estimated 20,000 kids could lose coverage.
•Community clinics could lose $12 million if programs for early detection of breast cancer, asthma control and reimbursement for medical bills for the uninsured are eliminated.
•More than 115,000 local children receive dental and medical care through funds from Props. 10 and 63. The governor has proposed diverting almost $1 billion of those funds.
In the last budget, Orange County experienced major cuts to AIDS prevention services, as well as the elimination of dental and vision care for adults receiving Medi-Cal. In one case, an Anaheim woman, who is legally blind even when wearing glasses, was denied a new pair when hers broke.
Unlike state programs, hospital officials said they have a legal responsibility to see anyone who walks into the emergency room.
"It's a cascading effect," said Craig Myers, chief executive of Coastal Communities Hospital in Santa Ana. "Anytime you shut down here, it has to go some place."
Kimberly Vasquez, 3, of Costa Mesa snacks in a waiting room while waiting to see a doctor at AltaMed Medical Group in Santa Ana Tuesday. Through visits here, Kimberly's asthma is under control, says her mother Rosalba Alonso. Healthcare providers and patients gathered at AltaMed offices to protest the $2.9 billion in proposed healthcare cuts in the governor's budget.
AltaMed healthcare patient Ora Lee Walker, 76, is reliant on the medical care she receives at the AltaMed Adult Day Health Care Center in Cypress. The governor's proposed $2.9 billion cuts to heathcare would place her program in jeopardy, she believes.
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