Coalition to Cook County Board: No health-care cuts

Working with a coalition of community groups, patients and care-givers, AFSCME is pushing Cook County commissioners to forego cuts to the Cook County Health and Hospital Systems and maintain critical services in Oak Forest and on Chicago’s South Side.

 

The commissioners are set to consider the county health board's plan to cut back or shut down in-patient care, emergency room facilities and rehab services at Oak Forest and Provident hospitals.

 

"The direction of the Cook County system must be about expanding access to health care, not cutting it," William McNary of Citizens Action Illinois told ABC news.

 

“We agree with many aspects of the plan,” Council 31 Director of Political and Community Relations said in testimony before a Cook County Board committee. “We would ask county commissioners to reject the strategic plan today and urge health systems officials to work closely with community and labor stakeholders to resolve these important outstanding questions, and then bring a reformulated proposal back to the county board in September.”