When it comes to Northern California’s largest public hospital system, Santa Clara County leaders fear they’re building a sandcastle at low tide.
The county’s largest stream of federal money and funding source for its public hospitals will be washed away if Congress follows through on its proposed $880 billion in spending cuts to Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California. The decision threatens to undo decades of progress made to ensure the region’s poorest residents get the health care they need. This comes as county officials work to expand the system significantly.
Next month, the county will restore trauma, heart attack and stroke services at Regional Medical Center in East San Jose, the long-depleted private hospital it recently purchased. It was a much-applauded addition to the public hospital network despite the county’s $250 million budget deficit …