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Editorial: When lawmakers delay
Fallout from budget impasse hits the poor
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, August 2, 2007
Story appeared in EDITORIALS section, Page B6
State budgets that are a few weeks late rarely matter much in the real world. Sometimes a delay can prompt lawmakers to make tough choices and settle issues they were unable to confront before the July 1 deadline.
But now that it's into a fifth week, the current budget impasse is having real impact. About 6.8 million elderly and infirm Californians depend on services paid by Medi-Cal, the state version of Medicaid. Unless a budget is signed this week or emergency funding becomes available, the state will be forced to end funding for an estimated 500 hospitals and 11,000 nursing homes, hospices and care centers that serve the elderly poor.
Some of these care centers may be forced to close. Others will be forced to turn people away.
With nowhere to go, thousands of those elderly and infirm patients could end up in emergency rooms -- adding to the health care crisis that the governor and state legislative leaders have pledged to address this session.
The budget holdup is also affecting day care for the working poor. About 250,000 low-income families in California depend on subsidized day care so they can hold onto their jobs. Without expected payments from the state, day care centers will be forced to either cut off low-income clients or obtain loans to maintain services.
By the time you read this, the state Senate could be on its way to resolving the budget standoff. Senators were scheduled to meet last night, and there were some hopeful signs that sensible heads were starting to prevail.
On the other hand, if Republicans (and some Democrats) continue to insist on tax breaks for airlines and Hollywood studios while cutting public transit and welfare payments for kids, it could be an interminable impasse. And the poor could end up double losers in the budget morass.
They could lose right away as the state misses payments to health care facilities and day care centers. And they could lose in an eventual budget deal that will affect millions of Californians for many years.
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