Kids to lose their health care

“It’s very hard to watch these cuts come down because they hurt the people who need it the most,” said Camille Levee, executive director of nonprofit Glendale Healthy Kids, which is bracing for increased demand as a result of the state program cuts.

Glendale Healthy Kids, which provides medical care for low-income and under-insured Burbank children by matching them with local providers who volunteer their services, will attempt to expand its reach to fill some of the holes left by the cuts to Healthy Families, she said.

Usually, she refers families who seek care to the MediCal or Healthy Families Program, she said. Now, she’ll have to take Healthy Families off her list.

The organization’s board of directors will meet next week to look at priorities and programs that can be provided to meet the growing need, she said. They will also attempt to provide local children with access to mental health services, another victim of state budget cuts.

“In the last year we have seen an increase in the need for mental health therapy for kids,” she said.

“As mental health program funding is being cut at the state and county level, people are coming to us.”

The state’s Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board is scheduled to meet again this month to review the spending cuts.