Group Studies Cost of Health Care Cutbacks

Ventura County residents could lose an estimated $20 million in federal health care funding next year and tens of millions more in future years under cutbacks being considered by Congress, according to a new report released Wednesday.

The elderly and the poor who depend on government-paid health insurance could either see their benefits reduced or eliminated under the budget plan, said representatives of Health Access Foundation of California, a consumer advocacy group that issued the 23-page report.

Ventura County alone could lose $16 million in funding next year for Medicare, government-paid insurance for those older than 65, and $4.5 million in Medicaid, coverage for the poor, according to the report.

“We want to see these health care rights fully funded,” said Bruce Livingston, executive director of Health Access.

But Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) said that the new report is misleading and grossly distorts the congressional budget-cutting proposal, which calls for reducing Medicare costs by $270 billion over the next seven years.

Although the plan calls for cutting administrative costs, Gallegly said it would increase benefits for Medicare patients. He said federal spending on Medicare would increase from a nationwide average of $4,816 per beneficiary next year to $6,734 by 2002.

“What we are proposing is growth in benefits for health care recipients and a reduction or cut in government bureaucrats,” he said. “Medicare is supposed to provide health care. It’s not a jobs program for Washington, D.C., bureaucrats.”

Gallegly and others questioned the accuracy of the figures given in the Health Access report, especially since the final budget plan has yet to be approved.

The Senate is expected to take up the health care issue when it reconvenes Sept. 5.