Orange County To Use Tobacco Settlement Funds To Finance Care at Medical Clinics

[CAL/AAEM News Service]

Orange County To Use Tobacco Settlement Funds To Finance Care at Medical Clinics

June 10, 2004 
  

Orange County is planning to use most of the funds it will collect in fiscal year
2004-2005 from the national tobacco settlement to finance operations at community medical
clinics and to cover charity care costs at local health care facilities, the Orange
County Register reports. The county expects to receive about $24.6 million from the
settlement for FY 2004-2005, which begins July 1. On Tuesday, county supervisors also
voted to expand a program that provides qualified seniors with free transportation to
nonemergency physician visits. The tobacco settlement funds are allocated to such
programs according to general categories approved by local voters in 2000; 23% of the
funds go to emergency department physicians, 20% to community clinics and 19% to elderly
health care programs. In addition, $1 of every $8 goes to fund smoking cessation efforts
(Orange County Register, 6/10).  


Source: California Healthline (www.californiahealthline.org) 


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Cyrus Shahpar & Brian Potts 
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service 
UC-Irvine



		
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