Santa Clara County: HR-1 will leave more than 450k people without healthcare in the South Bay
Santa Clara County: HR-1 will leave more than 450K without healthcare in the South Bay
Santa Clara County leaders say the changes buried in the bill include a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, and that will leave more than 450,000 people in Santa Clara County without healthcare coverage. KTVU's Tori Gaines reports from San Jose.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Santa Clara County leaders are sharing more concerns about President Trump’s bill HR-1; they say the cuts to Medicaid funding in the bill will have a massive impact on healthcare for Californians.
They say the changes buried in the bill include a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid, and that will leave more than 450,000 people in Santa Clara County without healthcare coverage. They also say they are ready to take a stand.
"I would love to be wrong, but this is absolutely a death sentence for the most vulnerable in our community," said Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong told KTVU.
"We are facing a loss over several years of over a billion dollars in revenue," James Williams, County Executive for County of Santa Clara told KTVU.
The cuts to medicaid are scheduled to take effect just after the mid-term elections. Supervisor Duong says the timing is disappointing.
"The timing is absolutely insidious, when people aren’t paying attention, when they’re struggling with other challenges in their life, their healthcare will be gone," Duong told KTVU.
The loss of healthcare comes at a critical time for Latinos
What they're saying:
A patient organizer with Latinas Contra Cancer, a South Bay nonprofit that focuses on supporting Latinos in accessing healthcare services, says the cuts are coming at an already devastating time for the Latino community.
"A reoccurring issue is our community members are too scared to go see their doctors. They are no longer going to their doctor visits, because they are worried immigration will come and take them away," Samantha Rojas, Patient Organizer with Latinos Contra Cancer said.
Some California leaders support the bill
The other side:
Two California representatives voted for HR-1’s passage—Congressmen Tom McClintock and Kevin Kiley—both celebrated the tax relief expected from the bill.
Representative Kiley’s office shared a statement with KTVU:
"The bill also provides crucial support for education, national defense, and border security. And it protects our public lands and rural hospitals – both of which I advocated for throughout the legislative process." - Representative Kevin Kiley (CA-3)
County leaders say they fear the loss of the medical safety net will leave a lasting mark on community health in the South Bay.
"We’re only 6 percent of the hospitals in California, but over 50% of the burn centers and train over 50% of the doctors in California," Williams said.
"We will pay for this for generations as a society if we don’t stand up, rise up and meet this moment and tell Congress, our executive branch, tell the federal government, ‘You cannot do this.’" Duong told KTVU.
County leaders say they will be asking the governor and State of California to allocate more state funding to support the hospital system here in Santa Clara County.