Commentary by Andy Caldwell

Commentary by Andy Caldwell

of (COLAB)

 

For the past several years, the State of California has permitted the County of Santa Barbara to collect some $1.6 million in funds that have been used to augment the operations of the trauma center at Cottage Hospital.  This center serves all residents of the tri-counties.  The fact that this fund is set to expire compelled the Board of Sups to direct staff to weigh their options.  Unfortunately, staff did not come up with a plan to replace the $1.6 million.  Instead, the Board was presented with the option of either raising $8 million in new property taxes, or some $15 million in new sales taxes!

 

County staff have estimated that some $8 million worth of medical care provided by local  providers is not reimbursed each year.  The laws of our nation, being what they are, require hospitals to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay.  Some of the costs associated with this unfunded mandate are passed onto patients with insurance.  Some of the costs are picked up by our government.  The rest of the costs, the estimated $8 million in our county, are written off as a loss by hospitals and doctors.  County staff saw the trauma center funding issue as an opportunity to suggest a new property tax be considered to raise the money necessary to reimburse local care providers. 

 

Of course, some people feel that the burden to take care of the poor should not fall on property owners alone, but should be borne by society as a whole.  Thus, the idea of a sales tax was also considered.  The problem with a sales tax is that it can only be raised in minimum increments of a quarter of a percent.  A minimum quarter percent hike would raise at least $15 million per year, more than what is necessary to reimburse the care providers.  Staff suggests that the extra money could be used to either help fund a North County Jail or alternatively, used to purchase and preserve open space.

 

Either way, raising property taxes or sales taxes requires approval from two-thirds of the voters, and there is not a lot of confidence that such a measure would pass.  Why?  Well, nobody can argue that hospitals and doctors have a right to be reimbursed, but there is obviously more to the story!  Walk into Marian Medical Center’s emergency room during any hour of the day and you will find it filled with illegal aliens using the hospital as a walk-in health clinic.  Although this phenomenon is true throughout California, it is nowhere more evident locally than in Santa Maria.  The fact is, most taxpayers resent how much they are paying right now to subsidize the cost of illegal immigration.  They are not about to volunteer for even higher taxes!

 

My take on all this is that staff should have addressed the $1.6 million dollar trauma center issue, which is not going to be hard to solve, and leave the $8 million problem to the State and the Feds.  There is no way that local taxpayers, who can barely afford the cost of health care for their own families, can afford to subsidize the costs of the uninsured in our community as well.   Because of unfunded mandates, there is not enough discretionary revenue available to local government to handle this enormous problem.  Neither should our local medical providers be forced to pay for this unfunded mandate.  The State and Federal government must take responsibility for the fact that the social safety net they mandated local communities to provide is bursting at the seams.  They must either provide the money to care for the poor, or relieve local governments and health care providers of the legal obligation to do so.

 

Andy Caldwell is the Executive Director of COLAB and a 39 year resident of the Central Coast.  You may reach him on the web at www.colabsbc.org