The White House is expected to propose budget cuts today that would shrink federal funding of health care for the uninsured and education funding for doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

        Cincinnati-area health care experts predict that the cuts would affect local medical school finances and a new project to streamline care for the uninsured.

        Last week, the New York Times reported that President Bush's $1.6 trillion budget proposal will call for several health care cuts, including:

        • A 60 percent chop in spending on education for doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists and other health professionals, from $353 million this year to $140 million.

        • An 86 percent reduction in the federal Community Access Program's budget, from $140 million this year to $20 million next year.

        That part of the proposal appears to threaten a three-county project to improve the coordination of uninsured care. In September, a coalition of Cincinnati area health service groups landed a $900,000 grant from the Southwest Ohio Community Access Program, and hoped for more in years to come.

        “It's hard to understand the public policy of it all,” said Dr. T.J. Redington, medical director of the Cincinnati Health Network.

        “The budget would raise funding for community health centers but would wound their ability to work together.”

        The money is supposed to pay for planning, training and computer gear to coordinate care for uninsured patients as they move from local clinics to hospitals and other services in Hamilton, Butler and Clermont counties.

        On Tuesday, a White House spokesman said, “We intend to phase out the community access program. Creating new federal grants is not the best way to address health care access. It's an efficacy issue.”

        “From our perspective, this was one of the most exciting initiatives to come out of Health and Human Services in a long time,” said Malcolm Adcock, Cincinnati health commissioner. “There will be a lot of activity to convince Congress to add that money back in.”

        And teaching hospitals have been struggling for years to maintain funding for medical education. New cuts would make matters that much worse, said Dr. John Hutton, dean of UC's College of Medicine. “What concerns me is that I see no plan behind it. They're just whacking here and whacking there,” he said.

        White House officials who defended the proposal said America has an oversupply of doctors, so there was little need to subsidize their training.

        However, Dr. Hutton said, the cuts would appear to also affect nursing and pharmacy training.

        The total budget for the federal Department of Health and Human Services will rise by 5 percent next year. Nearly all of that increase goes to the National Institutes of Health, the agency that supports biomedical research, which often is used by drug manufacturers to develop products.

        The New York Times contributed to this story.

Her question for officer: 'Plain and simple. Why?'
More answers expected
Riverfront action moves east
Health cuts could affect Tristate
Child deaths shake neighbors
Garden grows into reminder of tornado
Lebanon aims to keep its looks
Planners stepped on some toes
Upscale development coming soon
Ballpark alone won't save downtown Dayton
Church casts a long shadow
Coaching law meets criticism
Newport complex adds to the riverfront's draw
Ohio seeks keys to schools' success
Police officers' defense fund tops $60K
School stung by audit
Teachers colleges put to the test
Turf issues leave Ky. home without phone service
Ukrainians raise egg decor to art form
You asked for it
Tristate A.M. Report