PBC Health Care District cutting funding for uninsured, emergency care
A major change to the way hospital get paid for taking care of uninsured patients could have a impact on everyone who needs to go to the emergency room at any hospital in Palm Beach County and some doctors say they may not be available when you need them most and joins us now live. The biggest impact of this change will be felt workers who don't have health insurance, but if you need to go to an emergency room it could cost you too even if you do have insurance said Doctor Andrew Larson.
"It's a safety net that voters said they want Palm Beach County citizens to have now all the sudden that safety net is gone", said Larson.
Doctor Larson, a surgeon who works at three local hospitals, says he's very concerned about the future of emergency medical care in Palm Beach County. That's because of major funding crunch facing the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. Voters created the Health Care district and pay taxes to help cover patients who don't qualify for medicare, but also can't afford private insurance.
"Now all of the sudden that coverage is no longer available," Larson said.
In the past, the Health Care District would reimburse doctors and hospitals for those patients. But now they won't unless they apply for and qualify for that coverage, *before* they have to go to the emergency room.
The result: more patients getting bills they can't pay and more hospitals and doctors not getting paid for care they give.
"Yeah of course I think that's not fair, it's not right. And then the patients suffer and everyone suffers as a result," said Dr. Larson
The CEO Dwight D. Chenette of the Health Care District was not available for an interview but said they are facing a $56 million dollar funding shortfall. But he dis give us this statement:
"This year the Health Care District of Palm Beach County faced a $56 million deficit due to decreased property values. As a result, the District was not able to continue paying for medical services incurred by individuals prior to becoming a member of one of our health coverage programs. This change was necessary to meet the demand for coverage of newly uninsured residents. By placing the funding in this manner, the District is able to establish a primary care physician for all members and avoid emergency room visits and overcrowding at local hospitals."
But for people who are insured, Doctor Larson says they'll pay a higher price for their coverage too. With out this coverage, hospitals and doctors will have to find some way to make up the difference.
"The only choice they have to keep the doors open is is to raise their prices on people with private insurance and on medicare," Larson said.
Some doctors we spoke with for this story say they might stop working in ER all together, another scary way this will affect people who have insurance
The most important thing here is if you don't qualify for medicare, and don't have insurance register for the health district coverage. Here's a link to help you do that:
http://www.hcdpbc.org/index.aspx?page=41
