Tamara Tolliver does not think a drastic cut in funding for health care organizations in Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed biennial budget will make it through the General Assembly.
The executive director of Smyth County Free Clinic said Monday in her opinion and without basis in any actual information, the governor’s 50 percent reduction in funding won’t happen.
The proposed budget includes cutting half of the funding allocated groups, including the Virginia Association of Free Clinics, through which the Smyth clinic receives $23,600 annually.
“I think we might lose some, but not 50 percent,” Tolliver said.
VAFC distributes funding for free clinics that is earmarked for them in a line item in the Virginia Department of Health’s budget, Tolliver said. The association “divvies out the money based on the number of patient visits.”
The Smyth Clinic saw 1,600 patients last year, she said.
“The more patients you see, the more money you get,” Tolliver said.
Also slated to lose half its state appropriation is the Virginia Health Care Foundation that awards two-year grants. That’s not a large part of the Smyth clinic’s revenue, but did in the past support a nurse practitioner there.
Tolliver is optimistic the legislators in the General Assembly will rescue much of the funding proposed to be cut.
Bills to restore the VAFC’s full $3.1 million allocation have been introduced in both the Senate and the House, according to an e-mail Tuesday to free clinics’ directors from VAFC Executive Director Linda D. Wilkinson.
“A lot of times the free clinics are saved because they understand what we do,” Tolliver said. “I can’t see them cutting 50 percent. That’s just my personal opinion.”
dkegley@wythenews.com
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