Mariposa County may find itself picking up a $1.3 million shortfall for transporting seniors, and other people in need of various other trips.
County officials are still hoping to recoup about $500,000 of that cost.
The problem, according to county officials, began when LogistiCare, the former transportation provider through Anthem, began canceling 95 percent of its appointments at the last minute.
“And their message was call Uber,” said County Administrative Officer Joe Lynch.
“Well, we don’t have it. So, Health and Human Services started taking seniors to medical appointments and grocery shopping,” he said.
“LogistiCare refused to come up here,” Lynch said.
The county was left to fill in the gap.
The transportation budget includes two programs: Medi Trans, which provides non-emergency medical transportation, and Mari-Go, for shopping trips and other resources.
Altogether, the programs provided 8,372 trips last year, or an average ridership of about 33 people a day.
More than 4,430 of those trips were for non-emergency medical appointments.
On average, one-third of those appointments are in Mariposa County, but the rest are in the Central Valley or as far away as San Francisco and Sacramento.
For Medi-Trans there is a $5 local fare and a $15 fare for trips that are out of area.
HHSA has seven drivers, three of whom are licensed transit bus drivers. There are three people covering dispatch who can also substitute as drivers. There are two vacant positions.
Funding for the program is from grant funds from Area 12 Agency on Aging and various state of California funds through the Public Works Local Transportation Commission.
“The recent funding rounds while beneficial have not been sufficient to cover operational costs including personnel and fuel/maintenance, as such the agency has absorbed the remaining cost to keep this crucial public service going,” said Kazzy Cunningham, spokesperson for HHSA, in an email.
The size of the deficit is very much a moving target. County officials initially said it was $1.6 million, but revised that figure to $1.3 million.
HHSA is still hoping to reduce the $1.3 million deficit by about $500,000 when it receives as delayed state distributions for the program.
“We continue to receive monthly rider fare payments that help operating costs, and so our current deficit continues to change,” said Amanda Brum, division director of administrative services for HHSA, in an email.
“Our focus in the coming FY is to continue monitoring and managing funding to promote sustainability in the program,” said Brum.
In January 2024, the county transitioned from Anthem as its Medi-Cal managed care provider to a County Organized Health System (COHS) and brought in Central California Alliance for Health (CCAH) as its managed care plan.
CCAH’s medical transportation provider is Call the Car.
The county is hoping to contract with CCAH managed care to start paying for transportation services, CAO Lynch said.
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