One of Vance's First Lies About Springfield Just Got Knocked Down

Health official refutes Vance claim about Haitian health care in Ohio county

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Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) questions Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at a July 9, 2024, hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Development Committee. (Screengrab / C-SPAN video.)

The first time Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) spoke on camera about the influx of Haitian immigrants to Springfield, OH, he was questioning the chair of the Federal Reserve.

Both men acknowledged that immigration wasn’t in Chair Jerome Powell’s bailiwick, but Vance had gotten a letter from the Springfield city manager the day before, and he wanted to talk about it.

Vance focused on housing, but said there were other problems, too, including health care. “It’s also hospital services,” Vance explained in the July 9 hearing.

Of course, after Vance and former Pres. Donald Trump pushed their Springfield narratives on the national stage, two hospitals there were among the facilities locked down or evacuated in response to threats of violence.

Vance expanded on his health-care claims one day after the Powell hearing, during his remarks at the National Conservatism Conference.

Vance made the case that immigration — not just legal immigration — was a threat to America in a range of ways, making the country “poorer, less safe, and less prosperous.”

Data across all those metrics say just the opposite. And until Trump, Republican presidents took pains, at least rhetorically, to clarify that immigrants have always been America’s lifeblood.

But Vance also made specific claims about Springfield, the seat of Cook County, for which clear metrics aren’t readily available. Here’s what Vance said:

“A third — I heard this yesterday — a third of the local county health budget is now tied up in giving free benefits to illegal immigrants.”

Trump tapped Vance as his running mate less than a week later.

Vance has never said where he heard the county budget breakdown, but I’ve been emailing about it with Cook County Health Commissioner Chris Cook about it.

Last week, I reported that Cook told me, "There's a lot wrong" with the claims Vance shared. For one thing, there is no county health budget.

Cook’s office is actually a division of the state government. The county budgets for and makes additional health-related expenditures of its own.

But the falsehoods are more profound than bureaucratic distinctions. As Cook pointed out, “First and foremost, Haitians are not illegal immigrants.” But even taking that into account, Cook said that, “other than Haitian Creole interpreters we don’t have staff dedicated to serving just one race with public health services.”

At a July meeting, Cook said the Clark County Combined Health District (CCCHD) has six staff members who speak Haitian Creole. The CCCHD has about 100 staffers overall and works with a variety of non-governmental organizations, as well as state and federal government offices and programs.

Now, in a followup exchange, Cook has crunched for me more numbers relevant to Vance’s claim. And no matter how it’s calculated, Vance’s one-third figure isn’t true.

“I really don’t know where the 1/3 of the budget comment came from but definitely not from us or related to public health,” Cook told me. (His newest response to me is reproduced below in full.)

In addition, Cook said, none of his agency’s funding comes from the local county government. Instead, Cook said, it’s funded by the state, levies and fees, grants, and billing third-party payors.

He said the total 2023 fiscal-year budget was approximately $10 million. As Cook explained about my request for expenses accrued serving Haitian immigrants, “In trying to quantify the added expense to serve the Haitian population I calculated known costs that would, for the most part, not exist if we didn’t have these folks to serve.”

By that standard, he said, “I came up with current costs of $56,000 per month.” He added, “Please keep in mind that this is a rough estimate of operational costs” and said it includes interpretation and support services, the CCCHD refugee screening clinic, and support staff.

At an annualized rate, $56,000 per month comes to just over 6.7% of Cook’s annual $10 million budget, a considerable strain but only about one fifth of what Vance claimed it is.

There’s no way to generate precise numbers for services to immigrants, Cook said. “Generally speaking, we have no requirement for our programs to check immigration status.”

Previously, he told me that, “No one is turned away from services, such as immunizations, due to inability to pay.”

The strain on the city and county is real, though, in terms of health, education, housing, public safety, and more. Not because of Haitian behavior, simply because of the sudden population increase. (The city is now investigating whether local companies worked to recruit immigrants without alerting the city of the potential population increase.)

The strain on services, not Haitian misconduct, prompted the city manager to seek federal help in July. And Cook cautioned that while his agency’s health services are “our ‘supply’ so to speak, we are not meeting ‘demand’ with what we have now.”

One federal program actually has lessened the financial impact of providing health care to the Haitian immigrants, Cook told me earlier. It’s the Affordable Care Act (ACA) signed into law by Pres. Barack Obama.

“That group that cannot pay is much smaller than it used to be prior to the ACA which covers vaccines,” Cook said.

Cook’s email to me is reproduced here in full:

Hi Jonathan,

Apologies for the delay in my response back to you!

I really don’t know where the 1/3 of the budget comment came from but definitely not from us or related to public health.  Our budget is not under the County Commissioners like the other county agencies.  Our funding comes from grants, a local levy, fees for services, and billing of third party payors.  We don’t receive any money from the local county government’s budget.  Hope that makes sense!

Our total budget last year (FY23) was about $10M.  In trying to quantify the added expense to serve the Haitian population I calculated known costs that would, for the most part, not exist if we didn’t have these folks to serve.  I guess that’s the most logical way to look at it.  I came up with current costs of $56,000 per month.  In these costs are interpretation, supplies to support interpretation, our refugee screening clinic, and support staff.  Please keep in mind that this is a rough estimate of operational costs.  Also keep in mind that while this is our “supply” so to speak, we are not meeting “demand” with what we have now.  In my 20 years in public health, I know we always do more with the same, unfortunately. 

Generally speaking, we have no requirement for our programs to check immigration status.

I hope this is helpful to you and still relevant!

Let me know if you have any follow up questions.

Chris

Chris Cook, MPH, REHS
Health Commissioner

I’ve asked Cook for some additional followup information and will report in the event of substantive new developments.

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I’m a veteran journalist and TV news producer who’s worked at MSNBC, CNN, ABCNews, The Daily Show, Air America Radio, and TYT. You can support my independent reporting with a paid subscription to my Substack or with a donation.