By Matt Simonette

Staff writer

Medical professionals and community activists gathered downtown on Presidents Day for a rally calling attention to the dire budget problems facing Cook County’s health care system.

The County Bureau of Health Services would receive an additional $96.8 million under Cook County Board President Todd Stroger’s 2008 budget, but the agency is still reeling from an $87-million funding cut last year, when community clinics were closed and many physicians were laid off.

The Feb. 18 rally at Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington, was moderated by Dr. Janice Benson, president of Stroger Hospital, who said that she and her colleagues have begun to see patients who are worse off after extensive wait times for both doctors’ appointments and emergency services.

“Because of the cut, we lost clinics and doctors, and, consequently, we have learned (that) overall visits to our outreach clinics have fallen by about 100,000 in 2007, compared to 2006. Where are these people now going for their care?” Benson asked.

She added that the cuts had enacted a true “human cost—and we cannot let that happen again.”

Ed Shermer, executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, added, “A budget is a moral document. A budget is what you think is important and what you think is not important. …When you keep fat in the budget and cut services for the poor, what kind of morality is this?”

Participants at the rally called for raising revenues that would be adequate to sustain BHS’ diminished resources, as well as a dedicated revenue stream ensuring their future viability. They also called for hospital management independent of county politicians.

John Peller, of AIDS Foundation of Chicago, said Feb. 15 that his organization is concerned about how the “financial and organizational health” of the BHS have affected persons with HIV/AIDS in the county.

“Just watching what is happening in other cities right now, you can see that the country’s public health systems are incredibly vulnerable right now,” Peller said.

He added that budgetary changes at the federal level are also likely to have an impact.

“Medicaid changes will be taking more money out of the Cook County health system,” he said.

In a phone interview Feb. 15, Cook County Comm. Forrest Claypool (12th), long a critic of the county’s health system, said it needs a drastic overhaul, beginning with cleaning up its “financial management mess.” Claypool said that the system failed to bill for $250 million worth of services last year and incorrectly billed for $10 million worth of services.

“Anything being considered right now is a Band-aid,” Claypool said. “It’s a patronage system.”

He further called for the county to bring in “independent, experienced health professionals to turn it around.”

Participants at the rally were asked to sign a petition that would be delivered to Stroger, then marched for a time outside the Cook County Building.