Newsom’s Budget Plan Cuts Some Health Care Services, Spares Others
On Monday, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) released a $6.6 billion budget proposal that includes cuts to the Department of Public Health but does not scale back Healthy San Francisco, a city program aimed at ensuring access to health care services for San Francisco residents, the San Jose Mercury News reports.
The mayor's budget includes a $70.6 million funding reduction for the Department of Public Health and the Human Services Agency, two of San Francisco's largest departments. Newsom said the cut represents about 3.3% of the agencies' combined $2.11 billion budgets (San Jose Mercury News, 6/1).
The budget also cuts funding for mental health programs by $9.3 million, a funding reduction of about 6%.
Newsom said he hopes to preserve some mental health and other services and add them back into the budget by the end of June.
The mayor's budget also increases funding for Healthy San Francisco by $9.45 million (Knight, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/2).
The budget now goes to the Board of Supervisors (San Jose Mercury News, 6/1).
State Budget Cuts
Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's (R) proposal to address California's budget deficit, San Francisco would lose $175.2 million in state funding.
However, Newsom said his budget accounts for only $25 million of the possible state cuts.
The mayor added that Schwarzenegger's proposal to eliminate Healthy Families -- California's Children's Health Insurance Program -- as well as other services could cut into San Francisco's budget by an additional $100 million (San Francisco Chronicle, 6/2). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.