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PLATTSBURGH — News of the passage of major health-care reform by the U.S. Senate Thursday brought mixed reactions from North Country health-care and government leaders.
At CVPH Medical Center in Plattsburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer Stephens Mundy said 69 percent of the bad debt at the hospital is for outpatient services from the Emergency Department.
The bill aims to insure 30 to 40 million more Americans who do not have health insurance, which, Mundy said, will mean more people will have insurance and access to a primary-care physician, which should cut down on visits to the Emergency Department for care.
PILOT CALLED CRUCIAL
"We anticipate with the reform bill that there will be cuts to our reimbursement that, in theory, will be negated by improved insurance coverage," Mundy said.
"The big unknowns are how many people in our community will be newly covered, and will they be able to get access to a primary-care physician?
"That's one reason that the Adirondack Region Medical Home Pilot takes on even more importance as a vehicle for significant health-care reform."
The Medical Home project is designed to get primary-care doctors more involved in treatment and consultation as patients move on to care from specialists.
"Medicare may join our pilot, and that is something that would be very positive for our existing primary-care physicians, as well as being a boost to our ability to recruit," Mundy said.
At Alice Hyde Medical Center in Malone, President and Chief Executive Officer John Johnson was taking a wait-and-see approach.
"The details are not clear yet until the House and Senate come together on a final plan, and because of that, we don't know what impact that will have on us," Johnson said.
"But with 30 million to 40 million more people potentially having access to health care, that is definitely a positive. We just don't know what that will mean to us specifically. There is still a long way to go."
The staff at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake were also waiting to see the final package.
"Nevertheless, AMC continues to support meaningful legislation that extends health-insurance coverage to those without, but not at the cost of cutting reimbursement and provider payments," hospital spokesman Joe Riccio said.
"Health-insurance coverage without a doctor to provide needed and critical services does little to reform health care."
The Tri-Lakes Uninsured Task Force, formed by AMC several years ago, has conducted aggressive grass-roots advocacy efforts, Riccio said, and the number of uninsured people in the Tri-Lakes region has dropped from 14.5 percent in 2003 to 11.6 percent in 2008.
Riccio said that AMC is also keeping a close eye on the state as Gov. David Paterson prepares to unveil his proposed budget for next year.
CONCERNS
City of Plattsburgh Mayor Donald Kasprzak, a Republican, is not in favor of the legislation.
"While I fully believe that our health-care system needs improvement, the bill that was supported by the Senate and Congress, which includes our own Congressman Bill Owens, is completely unacceptable to the hard-working business people in this community and this country," Kasprzak said.
The mayor does not like the part of the bill that requires businesses to provide health-care options or face a penalty.
"With the trillions of dollars of debt we have and the spending that Congress continues to pursue, this simply is not in the best interests of North Country residents and businesses, and I urge everyone who is not happy to contact their congressman and senators and let them know."
Garry Douglas, president of the Plattsburgh-North Country Chamber of Commerce, also has concerns about the bill.
"The business community has consistently called for real reforms that will reduce rising costs and increase access to health insurance. We are therefore disappointed at the creation of an apparent Frankenstein's monster of a bill, loaded with vote-buying deals but very weak on reform," Douglas said.
"Worse yet, it promises crippling new taxes on the nation's job creators, who are already struggling to retain and create jobs.
"And, as pointed out by Governor (David) Paterson, New York state taxpayers will be especially clobbered, as the bill will add more than $1 billion in additional annual costs for our state, which already has job-killing tax levels and a ballooning deficit.
"We can only hope that the House-Senate conference process may strip this bill of all of its bloated special provisions and boil it down to an affordable package that focuses on achievable reforms."
— Staff Writer Denise Raymo and Kim Smith Dedam contributed to this report.
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