Stanislaus County reduces health care for poor

Fewer poor will qualify;co-pays higher for some

By Garth Stapley
gstapley@modbee.com

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Stanislaus County leaders Tuesday spared "the poorest of the poor" from health benefit cuts. But those with a little money were not so lucky.

More than 2,600 of the 6,000 to 7,000 people served by the county's Medically Indigent Adult program will be charged higher co-payments for dental and medical services starting Oct. 1. Some won't be eligible at all.

Tuesday's 4-0 vote, with Supervisor Dick Monteith absent, means that:

Stanislaus County Supervisors Watch

People with less than $2,000 in assets, not including homes and vehicles, still can apply. The previous limit was $3,000.

Participants with co-pays as low as $3 could see them climb to $574. Others with more income might see co-pays increase from as low as $45 to $1,205. As many as 2,653 people could be affected.

The county will stop providing preventive dental care. In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 740 people received that service.

Participants must pay half the cost of dental services such as dentures, crowns and root canals.

"The MIA program is fabulous," Armida D. Zavala, a Modesto mother of six, told supervisors Tuesday. "If you take it away, the poorest people in the county are not going to go to the doctor. They are going to suffer. And it's all on your hands."

Supervisor Vito Chiesa and Mary Ann Lee, managing director of the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, agreed that some simply won't seek help. But Lee said the county has little choice, with more people applying and less money to cover it.

"We don't take this lightly," Lee said. "We want folks to have access to health care. At the same time, we have to pay attention to fiscal restraints."

Supervisors Jeff Grover and Jim DeMartini said the penniless will continue to receive help as required by law.

"This is not the situation we like to be in, but it's the reality we are in," Grover said. The changes "more closely reflect what's happening in the private sector, with health care the way it is. There has to be more sharing between the users and those who pay for them."

DeMartini said the "changes are relatively minor."

Bee staff writer Garth Stapley can be reached at gstapley@modbee.com or 578-2390.