Cardenas Says GOP Jeopardizing Clinics

At a rally Tuesday in front of a San Fernando community health clinic, Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) blamed Republicans for leaving funding for area clinics in limbo by stalling action on the state’s $101-billion budget.

Cardenas warned that the uninsured working poor were in jeopardy of losing their primary health care because of a hold on $16 million in new funding intended for programs that serve them.

“Sooner or later, these doors will have to close,” he said while facing the Northeast Valley Health Center, where he went as a child because his family did not have medical insurance.

The July 1 budget deadline passed without a resolution after Republicans and Democrats deadlocked over reinstating a quarter-cent sales tax. Republicans oppose reinstatement as a tax hike while Democrats say it is necessary because of softening tax revenues. A quarter-cent sales tax increase would raise $600 million in the first six months of 2002.

Assemblyman George Runner Jr. (R-Lancaster) said he was not convinced that the late budget would cause the clinics to close.

“We’re not going to be blackmailed into voting for a budget through Democratic scare tactics,” he said. “It’s really in the hands of the Democrats.”

Of the $16 million in increased funding, $10 million would go to nonprofit community clinics. The remainder would be directed at health services for rural and farm workers and Native Americans, Cardenas said.

One-third of Los Angeles County’s population lacks health insurance, the most of any county in the nation, said Mandy Johnson, executive director of the Community Clinic Assn. of Los Angeles County. She said that many clinics do not have enough reserve money to sustain an interruption in funding.

The association represents about 90% of the county’s community clinics, which receive 1.5 million visits each year, she said.

“These clinics are the medical home for all these uninsured people,” she said. “The only other option is the [emergency] room, which is too expensive.”