Facing Lawsuit, San Diego Expands Healthcare to 900 More Indigent

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 24, 2007 at 2:06 PM PDT

This story was published more than 17 years ago.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to expand their health safety net to about 900 more people who cannot afford health care. The vote was in response to a lawsuit that alleges the cou

San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to expand their health safety net to about 900 more people who cannot afford health care. The vote was in response to a lawsuit that alleges the county is not fulfilling a legal mandate to provide health care for the most poor and indigent.

Supervisor Greg Cox says the county is doing what it can.

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Cox : It's a question of how much can you afford. We are waiting for a review from the state supreme court and I think we're waiting to see what they might say.

Richard Rothschild is with the Western Center for Law and Poverty , which filed the lawsuit. He says the Supervisors' vote still does not expand the safety net enough.

Rothschild : It completely ignores what the court of appeals said was wrong and will not survive in court. Counties have a duty to people who can pay for a small portion of their care and cannot simply deny them care altogether.

Rothschild says other large counties in California -- like L.A. and San Francisco -- find ways to cover more people who don't qualify for other health care coverage.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.