Say yes to Measure E: A temporary commitment to protect the community we share

by Monica Martinez and Maria Orozco, from Lookout Santa Cruz

Imagine the moment you learn that your health insurance is gone. You still have diabetes. You still need your prescription. The appointment you waited months to get is still on your calendar. What changes is whether you can afford to go.

Now imagine that happening to thousands of our neighbors.

That is the challenge facing Santa Cruz County as H.R.1, the federal budget law enacted last year, reshapes healthcare, food assistance and other essential benefits. On Nov. 3, Measure E gives voters a choice: whether to participate in a temporary local response to federal changes that threaten our community.

We urge a yes vote.

About one-third of county residents rely on Medi-Cal. According to the Central California Alliance for Health, more than 30% of those could lose coverage in the coming years as federal and state changes take effect. Nearly one in six rely on CalFresh to feed themselves or their families, which is also under threat due to eligibility changes and increased administrative hurdles just to keep food on the table.

These are people we know: the worker preparing our food, the neighbor caring for an aging parent, the young adult managing depression while starting a career. Losing insurance can turn a manageable condition into a crisis. For a family already stretching every paycheck, one medical bill can threaten rent, groceries and stability.

The consequences reach people with private insurance, too. When patients lose coverage, hospitals and clinics lose reimbursement. More care goes unpaid. Providers face pressure to reduce services, and emergency rooms become the fallback for people using it for problems that should have been treated earlier.

Measure E would help protect access to emergency care for all of us, whether you rely on Medi-Cal, Medicare or private insurance. When someone you love needs an ambulance or an emergency room, what matters is that help is available when they need it.

Watsonville Community Hospital shows how fragile the system already is. 

Hospital leaders recently warned that it could close within six to 12 months without action to improve its finances. It is already in the red by $86,000 per day. Service reductions in care for women, children and newborns are all on the table. Its difficulties have several causes, but further losses of insured patients would deepen the challenge.

For a family in the Pajaro Valley, this is about whether help is nearby when a baby needs specialized care or a loved one has a medical emergency. A hospital’s weakened finances can become everyone’s longer drive, longer wait and greater uncertainty.

Safety-net clinics and other community healthcare providers face similar pressures. When a trusted provider reduces services or closes its doors, cancer screenings, routine checkups, chronic disease management and other essential care become harder to access.

Thanks to members like you, Lookout is able to staff correspondents, editors and photographers to cover local races and issues across Santa Cruz County. Your membership is what allows Lookout to provide trusted information to the whole community in critical times like these. Thank you for your support.

Meanwhile, the backstop for people without insurance is under pressure. County budget reductions have made it difficult to provide indigent care for those without insurance, just as those numbers are expected to skyrocket. State changes will also end routine Medi-Cal dental coverage for certain adults without qualifying immigration status in July 2027, while retaining emergency care. 

A painful tooth does not wait for a better budget year.

Food assistance faces federal changes as well. When help buying groceries shrinks, families still need to eat. Food banks, schools and community organizations inherit needs that Washington has chosen to stop meeting.

Measure E offers a limited bridge through these changes. It would add one-half cent to the countywide sales tax, generating an estimated $27 million annually for five years. That means 50 cents on a $100 taxable purchase. The tax expires after five years.

The revenue would support safety net services, with the board of supervisors identifying priorities including healthcare, emergency medical services, behavioral health, food security and housing stability. Voters should expect transparent spending decisions and clear results.

No local measure can replace every federal dollar lost. Nor does Measure E relieve county government of its responsibility to control costs, improve services and address its separate financial challenges.

What it can do is give our community resources and time to respond, strengthen partnerships and preserve essential help while longer-term solutions develop.

A temporary tax deserves serious consideration. So does the cost of allowing care to unravel: untreated illness, preventable emergencies, families losing stability and services that may be difficult to rebuild.

We all depend on the same hospitals, emergency rooms and network of local providers. When that network loses funding, the consequences can reach all of us. Protecting it means protecting the care any of our families could need, at any moment.

We cannot decide what Washington does. We can decide how we respond here, together. Measure E asks for a five-year commitment to our neighbors and the community we share.

That is why we need to vote yes. 

Monica Martinez is the chair of the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. Maria Orozco is a member of the Watsonville City Council. They are co-chairs of the “Yes on E – Emergency Care for All” campaign.