The Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday/Tuesday to help keep the county's public health system afloat despite federal budget cuts.
Supervisors voted unanimously to direct county staff to find a way to help the Alameda Health System, or AHS, avoid layoffs and service cuts.
AHS is the county's independently operated safety-net health care provider. It’s largely funded with federal Medicaid reimbursements that were gutted by Congress and signed into law as "the big beautiful bill."
In order to cope with the loss of federal dollars, AHS administrators proposed slashing about 200 jobs across the system. This also included closing vital mental and behavioral health services at Oakland's Wilma Chan Highland Hospital and Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro.
