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HOME > ABOUT > PRESS > RURAL AREAS HURT BADLY
Article published - July 26, 2008
Credit: DAILY DEMOCRAT
Rural areas hurt badly
Knights Landing's health clinic is closed, and others in the county are bleeding funds
By Luke Gianni
Log onto the California Primary Care Association's Web site and you will see a number that is growing by 1,500 every second.
That number represents the amount of money health care clinics in the state are losing every second due to the present budget impasse, said Stephanie Berry, a policy analyst for the group.
On Thursday evening, the total on the site had risen to nearly $4 million.
The failure of the state legislature to pass a budget has forced many health clinics in the state to make tough decisions to keep themselves financially afloat, Berry said.
And when a budget is finally passed, Berry said, clinics will be facing between a 10 to 15 percent cut in funding.
CommuniCare, a company that manages seven health clinics in Yolo County, including ones in Woodland and Davis, announced this week it will be shutting down its Knights Landing facility due a $1 million budget shortfall.
CommuniCare's CEO Robin Affrime said the rural clinic provides health care to many of the area's indigent residents who will now have to go to Woodland or Davis for care.
Many of their patients in Knights Landing rely on public transportation, Affrime said.
And seeing that the bus comes by just twice a week to take residents into town from the area, some low-income residents might be severely challenged as they seek medical care.
"How do people who don't have transportation get to the services they need?" Affrime asked. "People are still going to need a specialist."
Affrime said the budget stall has forced her clinics to tighten the ship to stay afloat, including ditching some of their health programs overboard.
"We're doing everything we can to cut our cost," Affrime said.
Berry suspected the legislature will come up with a budget in August before the national presidential conventions that she said members of both sides will want to attend.
The presently proposed cuts, however, will issue a financial sting to the state's clinics when the budget finally does come to pass.
"We think it's going to be bad for the next couple of years," Affrime said.
Included in the proposed cuts are the following items that will affect CommuniCare's service outlay:
• 5 percent cut to Expanded Access to Primary Care (EAPC) funding for uncompensated care.
• 10 percent cut to Farmworker Health programs.
• 10 percent cut to Rural Health programs.
• Elimination of funding for coverage of adult dental care (Denti-Cal).
Not only are the cuts severe and debilitating, officials said, they're also idiotic.
Both Affrime and Berry said the cuts, thought of by legislatures as cost-savers, are counter-intuitive to the intended effect.
"The ratio is every dollar spent on primary care saves about three dollars in an emergency care," Berry said.
By cutting the budget for clinics, Berry said, the government is substantially increasing the amount of money it will have to pay for health care in the long run.
That is because, Berry said, without clinical services, low-income residents will now seek medical care by going to the emergency room, which is three times as expensive and is usually used when their health has already declined and more comprehensive treatment is needed.
Affrime said the spending cuts within the proposed state budget run against the basic mandate of government's public contract.
"One of the most important missions of the state is to protect the health and welfare of our citizens," Affrime said. "The state needs to reassess its priorities."
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