Our health care woes are no less here than across the nation. Just ask Garry Mac of Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach who points out that the hospital is $11 million short in receiving patient payments.
A symposium Thursday at Sugar Mill Country Club on the health-care reform proposals in Congress included guests like Mac, the hospital's spokesman, and Brian Hazard of the National Federation of Independent Businesses. The meeting was organized by Bill Roe of Ocean Properties and attracted 75 people. While Mac presented his institution's financial stresses, Hazard went on record as saying his organization was opposed to congressional legislation regarding changes in health care.
First up was Mac who proceeded to give the hospital’s point of view on the medical situation. The main point of his talk was that the hospital's primary problem was getting paid for the services it provides. Bert Fish is required by law to treat everyone who comes through the door independent of their ability to pay. Because of indigent care, Bert Fish receives taxpayer money, but it doesn't cover the full cost of such care and doesn't begin to cover the under-insured or those who have no insurance at all, but earn more than what is allowed under indigent care.
At this point in time, Bert Fish has about $11 million dollars in accounts receivable that it has been unable to collect on. Mac went on to say that Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach has about five times that amount and it has started to put liens on people’s homes.
Mac pointed out that the medical industry is saddled by rules and regulations at all levels. This visibly manifests itself in the number of people who are doing nothing but filling out various forms of paperwork. It is also most to blame for the unnecessarily high cost of medical care.
Mac was noncommittal as to how the hospital felt about the pending legislation, but Hazard was clear about his organization's opposition. And so too was the audience, at Hazard's request with a show of hands, with only three in support of Congress' so-called health-care reform.
One thing that needs to be emphasized is that the legislation before congress that is getting attention emphasizes government solutions to the medical cost problem. Since it is government interference that is causing the medical cost problem it is certain that government solutions will only make it much worse.
The way to improving the situation is going to market solutions. This involves tort reform, easing and elimination of regulations on medical insurance and the enhancement of market solutions such as health savings accounts. The dead hand of the Federal Drug Administration must be removed from the process of developing new treatments and medicines. Of course, the playing field must be leveled so that privately paid health care costs are treated the same way tax wise as health care costs paid by employers.
Any political representation at the meeting was very low profile, with only Andrew C. Taylor, an aide to Dorothy Hukill, in attendance.