Rell Slashes Community Health Centers, Other Health Programs

by Patricia Dillon | November 25, 2009 7:12 AM | | Comments (1)

Also Proposes Wider Cuts That Require Legislative Action

Gov. Rell’s proposal to cut $337 million from this year’s budget targets many programs that affect New Haven. The most immediate cuts are those identified by the governor as falling within her authority.

These are:

Diaper Bank - $75,000
‘Yale research’ - $600,000
Mary Wade - $50,000
Medicare Part D for seniors - $4.3 million non formulary drugs
Restrict Funding for FQHC’s Enhancements $ 2 million
Prenatal care payments to FQHC’s (Fair Haven and Hill Health) and hospitals refused unless citizenship of mother verified $2 million
Mental health services $250,000

Delay AIDS waiver to care for people outside of nursing homes.

Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR) ‘lapsed’ - $315,000


Which “Yale subsidy” is not clear. If that means the Connecticut Mental Health Center, unionized employees there are state employees with two years job security as per an agreement with Rell. Clinicians, such as psychiatrists, would possibly be affected.


State employees made over $500 million in concessions, and the state is deferring $200 million in pension payments, in exchange for no layoffs for two years. The corrections employees did not make concessions.

The legislature’s budget included large ‘lapses’ — giving the governor the right to cut programs up to those amounts.

A lengthy list of further cuts — such as cuts to municipal aid — requires legislative action, so the programs have not yet been cut. But the list itself creates pressure to accept those cuts, raise revenue, or find the dollars elsewhere.

Cuts to corrections are minimal relative to its budget.

In addition, the sales tax will not be cut due to the drop in revenue.







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Comments

Posted by: streever | November 26, 2009 7:23 AM

Thanks for keeping us informed Pat: Rell sure seems determined to "slash and burn" the state on her way out. I love how she thought to cut research at Yale, one of the leading innovators in health and science world-wide, and to cut funding for infant mortality rate--a real issue which America is facing.

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