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San Francisco Supervisors Put Community Health Programs Under A Microscope

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - The San Francisco Board of Supervisors planned to review $3.4 million dollars in proposed healthcare cuts at its meeting Tuesday. Many of the cuts would be to mental health and substance abuse treatment programs.

Public comment was being sought about the proposal, in accordance with state law - which requires so-called "Beilenson hearings" prior to any cuts in healthcare.

KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:

"I think the impact would be more of the nature of longer wait times as opposed to unavailability of services," reasoned Health Department finance chief Greg Sass.

He estimated the number of impacted residents at fewer than 2,000.

"We will have less of a capacity to serve people," countered Vitka Eisen, who runs Walden House and the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic. "We'll turn them away."

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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