11 CLINICS DOOMED IF DAVIS OPTS AGAINST AID.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

With pressure mounting on Los Angeles County to scale back its proposed health care cuts, county officials warned Saturday that clinics will not be salvaged unless the Davis administration taps federal funds.

County supervisors plan to close 11 clinics if the state doesn't gain access to $1.4 billion in federal funding. The county proposed the closures in June, hoping to spur federal aid. However, county officials have accused the administration of Gov Gray Davis of ``stalling tactics,'' and as a result, sealing the fate of those clinics.

``It's not that we want to close those clinics,'' said Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky at a community meeting Saturday in Pacoima. ``And I would be willing to postpone the health cuts in October if we had the state and the county on the same page.''

But with the two sides at an impasse, Yaroslavsky said the county will move ahead with the clinic closures.

``We have no choice right now. The state has to talk to the federal government. They (the federal government) will not listen to L.A. County,'' Yaroslavsky said. ``And it's come time for the state to either put up or shut up.''

The county contends state officials are reluctant to engage in talks with federal leaders because the state might have to kick in $300 million, as it did in 2000.

California officials have said they have questions about the dramatic cuts Los Angeles County is proposing and that they need answers before seeking money from the federal government.

Yaroslavsky, L.A. City Council President Alex Padilla, City Councilman Dennis Zine, state Sen. Richard Alarcon and state Assemblyman Tony Cardenas were among officials at Saturday's meeting at Mary Immaculate Church, which drew about 400 people.

The county health system is facing an $800 million deficit by 2005 as federal bailout funds expire. In July, county officials asked the federal government to renew a Medicaid rule waiver, which has provided more than $2 billion in health funds since 1995.

As the impending deficit clouds the health system's future, patients already are suffering from shortcomings in the county system.

``It's a problem for everyone, especially for those who can't afford health insurance,'' said Socorro Wence, 63, from Pacoima, who attended Saturday's meeting.

Her daughter had 14 corrective surgeries on a cleft lip at UCLA-Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar. ``It scares me to think about what my daughter would go through without Olive View,'' she said. ``What happens when an emergency hits?''

Supervisors expect to convert UCLA-Olive View Medical Center to an outpatient clinic in October if no new federal or state funding is obtained. Last year, officials at five hospitals, including Northridge Hospital Medical Center and Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, said they would have to close their trauma centers because they were losing money.

That's no surprise to Steve Remirez. The 52-year-old Van Nuys resident said it took about seven hours for Northridge Hospital doctors and nurses to tend to his son's broken arm.

``And that was a couple of years ago. Can you imagine what would happen if the trauma centers dwindled away? It's time for people to understand the implications of these health care cuts,'' he said.

In an effort to raise $175 million a year to save Los Angeles County's health services, the Board of Supervisors has placed a measure on the November ballot to raise property taxes by 3 cents per square foot.

The average homeowner would pay $42.66 more in property taxes a year, or $3.56 a month. That tax would fund the county's 13 trauma centers and emergency medical centers.

West Valley Councilman Zine said the city stands behind the county's cry for help.