Public speakers protest proposed cuts to medical‑legal partnership and veteran dental services; advisory commissioners urge integrative care pilot

During public comment on the committee’s budget agenda, community members and advisory commissioners urged supervisors to reconsider proposed funding cuts and to explore alternative care models.

Law Foundation plea: Lisonbee Brenner, identified in the meeting as CEO of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, urged supervisors to reconsider a proposed 34% reduction to the Medical‑Legal Partnership (MLP) that places legal advocates inside county health clinics. Brenner said the MLPs — including pediatric and specialty clinic placements that have operated about 15 years — served nearly 1,000 patients last year and that a cut would sever services that address housing safety, benefit denials, immigration and education issues tied to health outcomes. She told the committee an estimated 331 patients would lose access under the proposed cut.

Veterans dental and integrative‑medicine requests: Dr. Ken Horowitz and Michael Rogers, members of the county Health Advisory Commission, urged reconsideration of “rightsizing” proposals in the proposed budget. Horowitz said the MLP reduction had been flagged off‑agenda by County Health and that the commission recommended piloting functional integrative medicine services (for example acupuncture, nutrition, and other practices) in primary‑care clinics to improve outcomes. Horowitz also asked the board to reconsider a proposed 50% cut to veterans’ dental services.

Board action: Supervisors approved a consent calendar change to add the budget item for public observation and deferred a separate EMS fee item to the budget workshop; the committee received public comment. No formal budget vote occurred at the committee; staff said the final recommended budget would be published later in the week and budget workshop discussion would follow.