Health Chief Wants More Cash

Health Chief Wants More Cash

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The head of Cook County’s public health system says Stroger is the Mayo Clinic of public hospitals and he’s pushing commissioners to fund it accordingly.

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Lay-offs and restructuring have cut a hundred and seven million dollars from the budget of the agency that provides healthcare for the poor in Cook County. But yesterday Dr. Robert Simon asked the Cook County board of commissioners to increase next years budget by a hundred and 19 million.

Simon: “Please don’t look at your watches commissioners. This is such a critical piece of the presentation this is the most important presentation that I’m making for the whole year. Please understand, you have a phenomenal system and for you not to support it is a tragedy, an absolute tragedy.”

Simon says the cuts implemented this year have hurt preventative care. That means more people go untreated until their illness is so bad, they have to make a costly visit to the emergency room. Simon says more and more people in the Chicago region are going without health insurance and require the services of the county.