HARRISBURG -- Two streams of federal stimulus money are flowing into Pennsylvania, one being $6.7 million to bolster six community health clinics around the state, including clinics in Pittsburgh and two other Western Pennsylvania towns.

But that money won't prevent some painful cuts in health programs.

The North Side Christian Health Center in Pittsburgh, the Community Health Clinic Inc. in New Kensington and the Community Medical Services clinic in Uniontown will benefit from funding under the newly enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and Arlen Specter and U.S. Reps. Mike Doyle and John Murtha said in a statement yesterday.

Three other clinics -- in Philadelphia, Chester and the northcentral Pennsylvania town of Emporium -- also will get stimulus money. The news release yesterday didn't have a breakdown on how much each clinic will get.

"These health centers will help people in need -- many with no health insurance -- obtain access to the comprehensive primary and preventive health care services and create 295 jobs in Pennsylvania," the elected officials said in a news release.

The six Pennsylvania health centers treat nearly 40,000 patients a year. The grants are part of a total of $155 million given nationally by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. All told, money is going to 126 health centers that serve 750,000 low-income Americans.

Also yesterday, state Welfare Secretary Estelle Richman told a state Senate committee that $680 million in federal Medicaid funding came last week to Pennsylvania. Ultimately Pennsylvania will get $1.1 billion for fiscal 2008-09, which ends June 30. Together with $1.2 billion in state spending cuts, the federal money will erase a projected $2.3 billion deficit for the current fiscal year.

By December 2010, Pennsylvania will get a total of $4 billion in stimulus funding for medical assistance for lower-income people. That will help balance Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed $29 billion budget for fiscal 2009-10, which starts July 1, and help fund the budget for fiscal 2010-11, which starts July 1, 2010.

But the Department of Public Welfare, which costs nearly $10 billion a year and is the second biggest spender in state government (after public education), will still have to make some difficult cuts in programs. These include a $35 million cut in mental health programs -- which Sen. Pat Vance, R-Cumberland, a former nurse, protested -- and reductions in payments to nursing homes.

Another controversial move is a $20 million cut for hospitals around the state, including medical education programs and community access funds.

"Hospitals feel the pain, I feel the pain," Ms. Richman said. "There are a lot of difficult cuts in the budget."

But the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania yesterday urged Mr. Rendell and state legislators to use some of the $680 million in stimulus funds to avoid cutting hospital funding and "preserving patient access to care and supporting critical hospital services."

President Carolyn F. Scanlan said hospitals contribute $84 billion a year to the state's economy and employ more than 600,000 people.

"With the current economic crisis imperiling hospitals, and the patients who depend on them, it is essential that the federal stimulus funds intended for health care be spent on health care," she said.