Health Care News

Supervisor John Gioia spoke to the El Cerrito Committee on Aging.

Changes are in the works that could have major impacts on health care in Contra Costa County, according to County Supervisor John Gioia.

Threatened cutbacks by the Trump administration could severely damage our access to health care and make it virtually impossible to attract a new hospital to West Contra Costa County, Gioia told the El Cerrito Committee on Aging on Feb. 19.

Emeryville, Not Alta Bates

Also on Feb. 19, Sutter Health announced its decision to build a new hospital in Emeryville that will meet the state’s 2030 hospital seismic standards rather than spending more to upgrade Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. Part of Alta Bates will still be used as an ambulatory surgery center and urgent care clinic.

Supervisor Gioia said a new hospital in Emeryville will benefit El Cerrito and Richmond residents when it comes to ambulance travel time from their homes to hospitals. According to Contra Costa Health Services, ambulance response times to homes and ambulance drive time to an emergency room could decrease by 8 to 13 minutes (compared to driving to Alta Bates).

However, Gioia said that does not erase the need for a new West County hospital to replace Doctors Hospital, which closed in 2015.

“I have been in contact with leadership at Kaiser, John Muir Health, Sutter Health and UCSF Health about the importance of building a new hospital in West County (at a cost of at least $1 billion) and the opportunities that exist,” Gioia posted on Facebook.

Push to Cut Medicaid

Currently, Gioia is most concerned about Republican proposals to reduce the federal share of funding to reimburse health care providers for patients served by Medicaid, called Medi-Cal in California. Currently in California, the federal government pays 50% and the state pays 50%.

Smaller federal reimbursements would endanger care for 200,000 people in Contra Costa County who receive health care from the county hospital and clinics. It also would affect all the county’s hospital operators along with all medical providers who serve Medicaid patients, he said. Serving many Medicaid patients and receiving low reimbursements was a major reason for the closure of Doctors Hospital, Gioia said.

Other county-run programs that are paid for with a combination of federal and state funding are the Area Agency on Aging and food stamps (CalFresh). Meals on Wheels also gets some federal money.

Social Security could become a target, Gioia said, given that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made claims that it discovered fraud in the Social Security database.

“Their pattern has been to publicly say there's fraud without providing specific evidence to back it up and then say because of this fraud we're going to make cuts,” Gioia said.

Although few if any Republicans have been questioning the Trump administration, Gioia said the consequences of major Medicaid cuts are so dire that some Republicans are speaking up.

On Feb. 20, Gioia noted, a letter objecting to the cuts was posted on X by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a Republican group. It said, “Slashing Medicaid would have serious consequences, particularly in rural and Hispanic communities where hospitals and nursing homes are already struggling to keep their doors open.”

The National Association of Counties (NACO) will be lobbying to avoid cuts, Gioia said.

What Can Ordinary People Do?

Dr. Pansy Kwong, who chairs the Committee on Aging, asked: “What can ordinary people do to fight back?”

Gioia said. “We have to think about what the winning arguments are.”

While many people clearly support cuts in the federal government, the key to shifting opinions is to get people to understand how cuts hurt people, Gioia said. Because Trump seems to be punishing Democrats, persuading moderate Republicans and independents to take a stand about how policies hurt them is going to be a key.

For instance, farmers in Iowa are hurt by cutting U.S. AID to foreign countries because many farmers sold their crops to the program. Farmers in the Central Valley are worried about not having enough workers to pick crops because of anti-immigrant policies. These kinds of stories need to be widely known, Gioia said.

Measure X Projects

Gioia said a bright spot for county funding is Measure X, a sales tax approved by the voters in 2020 which brings in about $120 million per year.

Measure X is now funding some adult education programs for seniors in El Cerrito that were previously funded by the West Contra Costa School District.

The county has allocated about $700,000 for repair of the exterior and handicapped access to the historic El Cerrito Veterans’ building on Stockton Street, as well as $500,000 for work at the Richmond Veterans’ Building.

It has made $4.5 million available for vegetation control to improve fire safety, with about half designated for hand work by fire crews and half being made available for grants to cities and residents.

And it is funding a $20 million mental health crisis response program that is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week anywhere in the county.

The program was funded after police officers killed Miles Hall while he was experiencing a mental health crisis.

The helpline can be used by anyone, anywhere, at anytime.

The number to call for mental health crisis response is 1-888-678-7277.