SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Cash Transfusion Needed for Clinics

The health of 25,000 San Diegans is on the line. If the county doesn’t get some emergency state funding, it plans to shut down its medical services program for the uninsured and the working poor. And, if clinics turn these patients away, they could end up in hospital emergency rooms, putting the whole region’s emergency health-care system at risk.

The county says that it needs $16 million to keep the program open. Medical services for the poor have been under-funded statewide since 1982 when the state gave counties the responsibility for treating those not covered by Medi-Cal but not the resources to do the job. The situation was exacerbated by drastic state budget cuts. To offset the cuts, the Legislature gave the counties authority to collect additional fees, but much of this is tied up in court.

For San Diego County, something had to give. Whether or not canceling the service is allowed under state law, the county says it simply doesn’t have anywhere else in its budget to turn for money to pay the clinics, doctors and pharmacists.

Studies by the state legislative analyst and the California Counties Foundation substantiate this dire financial picture. Reversing the problem will be tough with the current state budget shortfall. But it is imperative that the state provide some relief so that San Diego County does not follow Butte County to near bankruptcy.