What is your opinion on this matter?

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The hospital I volunteer at will be facing a battle in the next few months, and I really am trying to understand every side of this story.

This is a well respected hospital. It is a Level 1 Trauma Center. And it is the only one within 100 miles. It is also a teaching hospital.

The city provides the hospital with $22 million a year to be used for indigent care. The care we are speaking of is not care paid for by medicaid, so there is no "double dipping." That is what was proclaimed in the beginning, by the hospital has proven the city wrong. This levy was passed by the taxpayers. They accepted the tax increase in order to provide this service to the hospital and community. This is what the taxpayer wanted their money to go to.

The care is for the "working poor." These people make too much money for medicaid or any other state/federal assisted health care program. Either their employer does not offer health insurance, or not quality insurance, or they can't afford insurance. These people would not be able to get healthcare of any kind without this assistance. Of course, the ER can't turn them away, but the hospital would be out a ton of money if they just billed people who could never pay.

A large portion, as sad as it is to say, goes to treating assault victims. There is a pretty high crime rate here, and we have gunshot victims in almost every day. There are always multiple assault victims. Not to mention car accidents.

The city is facing a $17 million dollar deficit due to funding that needs to go to the 2 riverfront stadiums. 1 commissioner wants to take the funding from the hospital and give it to the stadiums. He says the only other way to resolve the deficit is by raising real estate or sales tax. I'm not sure if I believe that because the city is planning on spending like $20 billion on a stupid streetcar system that the taxpayers do not want. We voted it down, yet somehow it got through.

Anyways, I have a huge issue with taking money from the poor and giving it to the stadiums. Man, does it make the city look bad. And taxpayers approved of a tax increase so that the money would go to indigent care. How dare they take this money and give it away for a purpose that is was not approved of.

One person said that we should just cut the funding of healthcare for city council employees. Why do they deserve healthcare and the poor do not? I believe they wouldn't be all gung-ho over this proposal if it meant that they would lose their healthcare.

I really don't know what to think. I'm just saddened by it. Guess I need to put on my game face though because the reporters will be all over once it really heats up.

What is your opinion on this matter? If you need more info, let me know. I'm trying to get info from many different sources so it isn't biased

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Specializes in multispecialty ICU, SICU including CV.

What city is this? There has to be some media/local news coverage it would be helpful to link if you have any.

Have politicians wanted to pull funds in part citing changes from health care reform? Health care reform is targeted at least partially at the type of patient population that you are referring to -- the poor that are not poor enough to be covered by Medicaid. Not all the changes with the health care reform bill have been implemented yet, but they will be over the next number of years or so (I can't cite when full implementation is complete, but if I am remembering correctly, it is within the next 5-10 years.) In the future, I'm not sure how necessary additional funding like this will be, although kudos to your city for caring about the health/welfare of it's citizens.

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Seeing as you know so much about the issue, you should participatein any of the /orchestrate rallys, petitions and get the media involved in this matter(local news, tv/newspaper/websites). It happens everywhere(corruption). Many of us do not get into the details of the situacion because we have other ways of getting around the system, but if this is your way(community activism/communism) than I encourage you to follow the guidlines that I have posted above. People like you are few nowadays in the sea of capitalism(U.S.A/G20 era of imperialism). I encourage you to petition, then collectively go to the media about it, then rally downtown(yeah, rallying on concrete at 90 degrees isn't "fun" but whatever gets the job done.)

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Specializes in LPN, Peds, Public Health.

Surely, if the tax was put in place specifically for the hospital fund, the funds cannot be used for anything else?

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Specializes in NICU.

It sounds like you're already pretty involved in the matter, and I commend you for this! Keep fighting the issue. Someone certainly has their priorities out of order.

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Specializes in ICU.

This sounds so much like my hospital (I know it's not because we're not a Level 1 and my city is only in debt for 1 riverfront stadium right now - eyeroll). :( I know how frustrating that can be -- I love my patients dearly and am proud of the demographic we serve. I hate that people talk about what a "money drain" this hospital is to our city. We almost closed last October. I'm grossly under informed about politics and finances, so I can't really say how it was resolved - just that it was and it involved one of the local Catholic hospitals taking over our management and finances and now somehow we have a 5 year extension before they reevaluate the situation. Scary, scary, and sad stuff.

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Specializes in PACU, OR.

Phew. Sounds like you have some heavy-duty digging to do.

Firstly, I can't comment on how essential services are budgeted for in your city/country; I don't live there. I presume the stadiums you are referring to are sporting venues, and can usually attract funding from sponsorships, gate fees, advertising etc. Is your city planning to host a major sporting event that necessitates their upgrade? Sport and recreation are important in communities, but pulling funding from health care to promote sport is bad news.

As for the transport system you refer to, I am always suspicious of any decisions pushed through committees/councils/local government in defiance of taxpayers' wishes. Look very carefully into this: who supported it? what business connections do they have? who stands to benefit financially from either the upgrading of the stadiums or the proposed transport system?

If it smells bad, locate the source of the smell and deposit it on the appropriate doorstep.

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I definitely support your stance on this issue and I would encourage you to get involved with the cause and fight for the money to stay at the hospital. I don't know how funds are appropriated in your city, but obviously the hospital funds have a history of support from the community. It sounds like there is a really good argument there for the funds to be used how they were initially voted for (was it a vote? I read quickly so forgive me if I'm wrong). Regardless, I would say rally the troops and fight. Sure, the new reform bill that goes into effect in 2014 will hopefully give some aid to the working poor, but I think the fact that your hospital has this ability to provide care for these people is something the community should be very proud of.

But, playing devil's advocate here (don't you hate that?): the stadiums should ideally bring more money back into the community via taxes. They will be a revenue source for the community, and in the eyes of some, a sound "investment." Now, what they do with that revenue is key here, but if they were able to make enough off the stadiums, do they think there is the potential for some of that revenue to go to public health and safety? If your city can find a way to use those resources to cut down on crime or work on prevention and health education, that's an indirect way of providing care to the same population that the hospital's fund would. In the end, I see a potential for a lot of good to come from that. But of course again it's all about convincing the powers that be to use the money for good rather than evil. I know, dream on, right?

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Specializes in Health Information Management.

I'm glad you're getting involved in this, because it sounds like a major mess. The great thing about the net is it's a lot easier to get grass-roots organizations pulled together! So start small, by talking with friends and neighbors. If you're on Facebook, start canvassing local friends/local friends of friends/etc. for interest in defending the hospital's funding. If you or any friends have contacts with influential people, now's the time to get them involved. I used to cover city government for a living, and you'd be surprised how a sudden groundswell of public anger, particularly when expressed through phone calls and letters, will spook mayors and city council members.

If you're intent on changing this, make sure you educate yourself about the local political structure. How often are people re-elected? Who's an at-large council member, and who represents a specific ward or segment of the city? Is anyone facing re-election this year? What are the ward or city political district boundaries? Once you've gotten a good core group together, try to target council members who are facing re-election, especially if there's any sort of competitive race involved. Councilman Jones is going to be a lot more receptive to changing his plans if all of a sudden he's deluged with calls from Ward 16 registered voters angry over the loss of funding for the hospital!

I'd love to read more about the situation, so if you can, please post articles.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

IMHO the greatest failing of our capitalist system is that money has become more important than human life. I applaud your concern and understanding of the issues. Letting one poor person suffer so that money can be used for a stadium is a perfect symbol of a morally bankrupt system. Keep up the good work, there seem to be few of us that still care.

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Specializes in med/surg and adult critical care.

I don't like taking money from the poor either. You are a very ethical person for even wanting to take on this fight and the fact that you care is huge. Not many people want to fight "city hall" nor do that want to fight for the underdog or the poor...kudos to you...keep us posted on what happens. Would love to know the city you are working in and would love to be able to keep up with this situation through the media via the net....

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Specializes in PACU, ED.

Write letters to the editor, get others to write letters to the editor too. Name the city councelmen who want to defund healthcare for the working poor. See if there is an organization that will take this on that can afford to place ads in the papers or on billboards. Bless you for being such a good advocate for your patients.

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