Study Forecasts Major Cuts in Health Funds for County

Los Angeles County, already struggling to provide medical services to the poor, would lose $12.3 billion in federal health care funds over the next seven years if Congress passes a proposal to sharply cut Medicare and Medicaid spending, according to a study released Wednesday by a nonprofit health policy group.

“We don’t know exactly what those cuts are going to look like because Congress hasn’t told us yet,” said Maryann O’Sullivan, president for Health Access, a coalition of 200 organizations working for affordable health care in California. “We do know these large cuts will cause a critical difference in health care. . . . The fallout will be devastating.”

Medicaid, the federal health care program for the poor, is known in California as Medi-Cal.

According to the study by the San Francisco-based Health Access, health care cuts could exceed $44.1 billion statewide under federal plans to cut spending for Medicare and Medicaid by $452 billion over the next seven years. Funding in Los Angeles County, which exceeds $9 billion annually, would be cut by $320 million in 1996.

House Republicans argue that Medicare will be broke by 2002 unless its spending is brought under control. They favor moving millions of people into health maintenance organizations and other managed-care systems.

Critics, however, say the cutbacks would leave the poor and elderly without health care. Coalition members said they hoped their report would send a message to lawmakers before they vote on the matter next month.

“Let’s look at other ways to save dollars and balance the budget,” said coalition spokesperson Stephanie Brady. “Not on the backs of the elderly, the children and the most needy.”