Ventura County Cuts Funds for Kids’ Health Insurance Enrollment
The Ventura County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to reduce by about half funding and staffing for a program that enrolls children in public health insurance programs, the Ventura County Star reports. Funding for the County Public Health Department's Health Care for Kids program will be cut to $423,977, and the number of staff positions allocated to the program will be reduced to six.
County officials said the cuts were necessary because the county received about $455,000 less than it had anticipated from the state for the program in the fiscal year 2007-2008 state budget.
Ventura County Health Care Agency Director Mike Powers said that four of the six eliminated positions are vacant and that the other two staff positions will be reassigned to the county's outreach program for adults. Powers estimates that the reductions will reduce the number of Ventura County children who are enrolled in insurance programs through the program from 478 to 420 (Biasotti, Ventura County Star, 10/3).