State Health Cuts Would Hurt County’s Poor, Report Warns

Major reductions in statewide funding for health-care programs would “severely compromise” Orange County’s ability to provide “effective services” for thousands of poor, disabled and elderly residents, a county advisory task report said.

The report, received Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors, urged county officials to “vigorously oppose” Gov. George Deukmejian’s recommendation to trim $485 million from health and welfare programs in the state’s 1989-90 budget. The proposed cutbacks could mean a loss of about $33 million in health-care funds for the poor in Orange County, according to county officials.

Hardest hit under the governor’s budget plan would be programs serving low-income families and the medically indigent, two groups already receiving inadequate service in the county, the report from the Human Services Legislative Advisory Task Force said.

Funding for health-care pro grams for the county’s poor is already “woefully inadequate,” and further reductions in aid would be “a serious blow for those programs,” warned Richard Keefe, the county’s legislative analyst and task force task chairman.

The situation is particularly critical because the county is struggling to balance its budget and has no additional resources to offset any state reductions in health-care programs, Keefe said.

Programs targeted for reductions by the governor include Aid to Families With Dependent Children, In-Home Supportive Services and Indigent Medical Services. They serve about 72,000 county residents.

The county’s task force was formed in July, 1988, and is made up of county, university and medical officials. Its mission was to identify problems with the county’s health-care network and establish goals and priorities.

Restoring state funding for mental health and alcohol services and health-care programs for the poor should be top priorities for county officials, the task force report said.

Deukmejian has proposed replacing the cuts in health and welfare funding with money from a November ballot measure that enacted a 25-cent-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes. Health-care providers, however, were counting on that money to expand programs, not offset spending cuts, Keefe said.

“Proposition 99 provided some real hope to finally improve some of our programs,” Keefe said. “The task force agreed that the county must oppose attempts to use that money to cover spending cuts.”

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, who along with Supervisor Roger R. Stanton recommended forming the task force, said the county must “dig in and prepare to fight” for programs targeted by the state for reductions.