Palomar Health’s finances aren’t great.
The North County public healthcare provider is in a lot of debt — $585 million to be exact. And paying it off isn’t getting easier as its operations income saw a significant decrease this year. A June budget report shows that its operations income plunged from roughly $42 million in 2022 to $9 million in 2023.
On top of that, as Tigist Layne reports it may get worse.
A partnership with Kaiser Permanente that has been financially beneficial for Palomar Health will end in the coming months. Palomar Health stands to lose income, though it’s unclear just how much.
Still, the healthcare provider has big spending plans. And a board member’s request for monthly budget updates was denied.
“We’re in financial difficulty and everybody needs to be monitoring the finances of the hospital on a monthly basis,” he told Layne.
Layne explains what’s at stake. Read the full story here.
Politics Report: GOP Rivals Scuffle for Supervisor Race
Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey has been sending mailers to homes across San Diego touting a “San Diego Comeback.” He has been running video ads on social media, and he also has a website where a video, very much like a campaign ad, is the first thing you see, writes the Politics Report.
So, Bailey is running for something. But what, we wondered?
Now we know: He has filed to run for District 3 on the County Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer reps the district and is running for re-election. Ah, but Bailey isn’t the only Republican looking at the seat.
Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faluconer is interested in running.
Read the Politics Report here.
VOSD Podcast: This week’s VOSD Podcast co-host, Jakob McWhinney, shared in this episode a framework he often uses to consider San Diego’s present state and future: “It’s gonna blow.” In this episode, McWhinney and hosts Scott Lewis and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña review this week’s news with that framework in mind: homelessness, sports, billionaire investors and more.
In Other News
- ICYMI: As neighborhoods outgrow libraries, and get new ones, a question often comes up. What does the city do with the old beloved buildings? In her latest newsletter Voice editor Andrea Lopez-Villafaña unpacks that question. Read Cup of Chisme here.
- According to a new report, more than half of all the people arrested in San Diego last year tested positive for methamphetamine. (City News Service)
- KPBS profiled a new mural in Chicano Park. The artwork depicts the effort to ban a short-handled hoe known as “El Brazo del Diablo” that forced farmworkers to bend over for hours and left many with back pain.
The Morning Report was written by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.
“…some $585 million to be exact.”
jeez louise you guys. “some” 585 million is NOT exact.