Senate Finance cuts $5.4 million out of aging services and health budgets

More than $5.4 million was cut Monday from the budgets for Health and Aging Services by the Senate Finance Committee.

The cuts included two of the compliance officers hired to meet mandates of the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act -- one from Aging Services and one from Health.

Gov. Kenny Guinn's proposed budgets included a total of eight compliance officers. At this point, five have been cut out of the budget.

Altogether, the decision chops $1.28 million in fiscal 2004 and $1.38 million in 2005 from the Health Division. Fully half that total, $730,206 in 2004 and $789,988 in 2005, was cut from the Special Children's Clinics budget.

But analysts say that doesn't reduce services. Instead, the savings are the result of efforts to increase medical service charge collections and increased federal funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. State officials hope the funding will reduce or even eliminate waiting lists in the program.

Senators voted to support the governor's recommendation that the general fund portion of the Health Aid to Counties pass-through be eliminated. They were told restoring the general fund money in that account would cost $1.6 million next year and $1.7 million in 2005.

Most of the savings in the Aging Services budgets were made by replacing general fund dollars with federal grants, Medicaid money and tobacco settlement dollars.

Despite the cuts in general fund money, the budgets include several added positions including a case manager for medically fragile individuals in the Senior Services Program and give more positions in the long-term care ombudsman program under the Older Americans Act.