President Trump’s proposed budget would be a disaster on the county level.
This is true across the state, but it serves to use one county as an example. We’ll use Santa Clara County in this regard.
Congress can’t allow anything close to the 16 percent cuts to the Health and Human Services Department that would eliminate dozens of essential county programs.
County Executive Jeff Smith estimates that if the current federal budget proposal stands, it would remove $500 million from the budget, about 10 percent of the county’s $5 billion in annual revenues.
“If you do the math, you’re talking about 4,000 employees out of the 19,000 we have being terminated,” said Smith. “It would not only impact the poor and those who use county services, but since we’re the largest employer in the county, it would also devastate the county economy.”
It’s not just health and social programs that would be slashed. The county would have the capacity to shuffle money from its general fund to alleviate the depth of some cuts. It also could dip into its $200 million in reserves. But even that wouldn’t prevent deep cuts to not only health and social programs, but also at the county jail, District Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender Office and transportation department.
Compounding the problem, many of the county’s programs exist only because of the availability of federal matching funds. Without them, they might need to be eliminated.
“We would probably only be able to do minimal care in the health realm,” said Smith. For example, the county would likely have to close many of its clinics that provide care for patients who don’t live near Valley Medical Center.
“And many of our robust programs, such as child protective services, CalFresh (which helps families and individuals with little or no income to buy food) and foster care would be cut to the bare bones.”
As for Valley Medical Center, the linchpin of Santa Clara County’s medical system, the loss of federal matching funds would eviscerate services that now attract customers with insurance that would allow them to go elsewhere.
With fewer paying patients, VMC would have to give up on treasured specialty care and would transform over time into a hospital that cares mainly for the uninsured, who, under the GOP proposals, would have no alternative but the emergency room for medical care.
Particularly frightening is the likelihood that mental health programs would see one-third of their funding disappear. That will dramatically increase the numbers of people becoming homeless or ending up hospitalized or in jail — all far more costly to the public than providing basic mental health care.
A vote on Trumpcare was delayed last week. And some Republicans in Congress have said Trump’s budget is dead on arrival. But even if some of the proposed cuts are softened, the huge military buildup proposed by Trump and supported by many Republican lawmakers will force major cuts to domestic programs.
The Bay Area congressional delegation is determined to fight those cuts, and the region’s counties and cities should be on the front line with them. Now consider your own county’s position. Lives hang in the balance.
Bay Area News Group
