When Budget Is Settled – Look For Cuts, Cuts, Cuts, Especially In Health Services

The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf are battling each other as to who has the budget which would treat Philadelphia well. No matter which way this cookie crumbles, destined to suffer will be health-care services for people with disabilities and vulnerable children.

STATE SEN. VINCENT HUGHES held an open discussion with constituents in University City Science Center Saturday to reveal grave issues at stake in state budget plans.

As analysts have studied the budget proposal, submitted to the House by the majority Republican caucus a month back, more details on the planned funding reductions have come to light.

They include a cut of $38.6 million from Head Start, Child Care Works and Pre-K Counts, two Pennsylvania pre-kindergarten programs, in addition to the elimination of full-day kindergarten programs in the budget proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett in March. About 7,000 children may lose their day-care services as a result of the cut, according to Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. The budget also eliminates $6.3 million, or the total amount in state support, for community-based family centers.

Meanwhile, most of the state’s school districts have announced plans for severe cuts. They plan to increase class sizes, eliminate tutoring programs, slash summer school, cut full-day kindergarten, and shed staff. Three-fourths plan to reduce or eliminate extracurricular activities, including sports programs. More than a quarter are considering closing schools next year to reduce costs.

No school-district plans are yet final and some will change if some of Corbett’s proposed $1.1 billion in public school cuts are rescinded.

A group of school superintendents have condemned what they call an attack on urban schools in particular in both the Governor’s and the Assembly’s budget plans. They say urban school districts get hit with a disproportionate share of State education cuts.

Scranton Superintendent William King, speaking on behalf of a caucus of urban school leaders in the state, said the proposals cut per-student spending more for low-income students, Black and Hispanic students. These students are more likely to attend urban schools.

While House Republicans made a point, when releasing their proposed budget two weeks ago, of noting they restored funding to hospitals and other health-care providers, advocates for health care for the poor have found the proposal includes a cut of about $86 million in State funding for supplemental payments to acute-care hospitals.

Unlike the Governor’s plan, which called for a $31.5 million increase to uncompensated care through the Tobacco Settlement Fund, the House plan will total $116 million in reductions when federal matching funds are taken into account. The federal government adds about $3 to every dollar the State spends on uncompensated care.

A report from the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania said uncompensated care provided by hospitals in Pennsylvania grew 8% – from $825 million in fiscal year 2009-10 to $891 million in fiscal year 2010-11. Sharon Ward, executive director of the Pennsylvania Budget & Policy Center, said the cuts to uncompensated care could shift costs back to individuals who have private health care.

The House Republican proposal to cut $470 million from the Dept. of Public Welfare budget to restore a portion of the Governor’s proposed cuts to basic and higher education means including significant cuts to the Behavioral Health Services Initiative, which provides mental-health and substance-abuse recovery services to uninsured people, and the Medical Assistance Transportation Program.

BHSI was cut by $4.3 million (8.26%) in the House budget proposal. BHSI provides both mental-health and drug-and-alcohol treatment for individuals with a low income who do not qualify for Medicaid. If the House proposal is implemented, the BHSI budget will have been cut by $9.5 million since fiscal year 2007-2008, a 16.6% cut over four years. In addition, the House proposal cuts $4.3 million from the State mental-health base dollars.

The House budget proposal cuts $9.6 million (12.9%) from the Governor’s proposed budget from MATP. Federal regulations require transportation is available for individuals to access needed services. Demand has continued to grow for the county-based MATP program, which is crucial for many Pennsylvanians who have no other options to go to medical appointments.

Mayor Michael Nutter announced a proposal containing $16.5 million in housing-related cuts to make up for reductions in federal and state aid to Philadelphia.

Administration officials said there would be layoffs in more than a half-dozen City agencies that directly or indirectly receive money from the programs being cut.

About $5.3 million of the reductions will be made in personnel; the rest will come from reductions in certain housing services.

Most of the money being cut comes from the federal Community Development Block Grant program. The City is slated to receive $9.1 million less than the $55.3 million it got this year.

The City is also expected to lose $1.9 million from another federal grant, the HOME Program, through which it received $16.4 million this year.

In addition, the State is eliminating $5 million of housing-related money it gives Philadelphia, and the city will receive $500,000 less from the Philadelphia Housing Trust Fund. That fund was the source of $7.5 million this year.

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