The proposal by Access Escambia to have a half-cent sales tax to help pay for doctor visits for the uninsured has surfaced two area of opposition – besides those against everything:
- Those angry over county government’s budget and its spending
- Those angry over federal government welfare and social programs
I’m no fan of county government’s budget and believe the 2006-07 property tax millage should have been rolled back – despite the justifcations given by Comm. Whitehead. And over the last few months, county administration has floated ideas for an increase in MSTU (is it MSBU) for fire departments and a nickel increase in gas taxes to pay for ECAT – both I wasn’t crazy about either.
I also know of the abuses and failures of the federal subsidies – but this isn’t what this is. It isn’t medicare or medicaid…. or any of other non-welfare subsidy like aid for farmers for their crops or the oil industry to help pay for the oil exploration.
What I like about the Access Escambia plan is:
- It sets up a fund with a revenue stream the county commissioners can’t use for any other purpose. They can add to it, but not divert fund for their pet projects. —we will need to watch overhead costs attached to the fund, if any.
- The money goes to primary care where we can greatly reduce treatment costs by catching any illness in its early stages when it’s less costly to diagnose and treat. Thousands are going to bed every night in this county – sick, in pain and fear. They’re holding off care until they can’t bear it any longer…then they go to the emergency room. They pay the best they can but our medical costs and insurance premiums are higher because of the burden on the system.
- We can put a dent in the overall health problems of this community.
I understand the argument that everybody should pay their own way, but the playing field hasn’t been level in Pensacola for a long time. We have to take this problem into our own hands and deal with it. The Access Escambia plan is a step in the right direction.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Gee, I wonder why Escambia County has one of the highest illiteracies, worst economy, worst in health care, worst in water quality, worst in so many different things… maybe the very poor working conditions. We have few Unemployed, true. The definition of unemployed are those LOOKING for a job. Since we have so many that don’t need to look for a job (welfare) they don’t qualify for the unemployed. Let’s work on bringing in HIGH paying jobs instead of losing them to our neighbors to the East, West and North of us. We would lose them to the South of us, but the fish don’t need jobs. Do you honestly think that bringing in another Welfare program for the under $40k household income will just open the flood gates for businesses?
Stop adding more taxes and start giving the people jobs by keeping the taxes LOWER. This will be the only way to improve Escambia County.
Lets clean up the place, provide jobs (incentives for companies to come here and re-locate), clean up the water system, and improve the quality of life here. Then, if we still have poor health conditions… you may want to start taxing the heck out of the citizens.
I am a native Escambia County resident. I will be here for the rest of my life, so I want to see things to help us in the long-run, not the short fixes that our government and Special Tasks Forces come up with. Most of these people have their own special interests at hand and do not really know the long term affect of their decisions. We don’t need to create 10 jobs to over-look this program either. If these people want to help, actually do not take any pay for the positions they take. Give back 50% of their income back to the City like many of the Poor people do (through Church, and volunteering – since they don’t all have income to give back). They are the biggest consumers we have, so taxing spending will end up hurting them more.
Get intouch with this group you want to help. Hang around them daily for the next 2 years of your life, then you can understand their needs. Walk in their shoes, don’t make decisions from the IVORY Tower for them.
The people who are trying to make these decisions all make more than 5 families combined in this group… these are not the people who can make decisions for these people of Escambia Counties Poor and Low-Middle Class.
Educate them and Mentor them (mentoring does not mean seeing them once every week for 1 hour).
Just do better, don’t put a band aide on the problem and think it’s fixed.
Escambia County doesn’t have an abundance of welfare programs. We spend less than all but one Florida county on public health care. We pioneered workfare in the 1980′s. We’ve torn down housing projects and built Aragon Court and other upper middle class neighborhoods. We doing the same with Morris Court.
Yet our poverty has grown. We have kids depending on schools for their meals. We have our infant mortality is higher than the national average. You can blame the parents all you want…these young children are innocences.
You’re picture of Escambia County as some welfare state is wrong. Most of our poor work (unemployment is only about 3%). We are more like a Third World country – when it comes to the overall health of citizens.
MMP – I agree w/ you 100% on that. All I am saying w/ more and more welfare plans, the poorer and poorer Escambia County gets. We will have a hard time getting wages up if we keep dragging the poor further down.
Education, better jobs, and better living conditions (Air & Water as an example) are the only way to improve our health and the problems with Escambia County… not more Welfare Programs!
Cut ALL Welfare out is my solution! But that is not ever going to happen.
Response to post 58, Confused? You are correct about the salaries being too low
and all of the expenses a family has to pay in order for them to work, but how about personal responsibility – if you
can’t feed them don’t breed them. No one dropped off a bunch of kids on their door
step. You know birth control has been
aroud a long time and yet people seem
not to know about it. I find this
amazing and irresponsible.
Just a parallel!!!
I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week, we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile; the chairs; the table; everywhere.
Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though Ihad fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud – They sat on the f eeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it was low on food. After a while, I couldn’t even sit on my own back porch anymore.
I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be…quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.
Now lets see…our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly, our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; your child’s 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn’t speak English; Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press “one” to hear my bank talk to me in English; and people waving flags other than “Old Glory” are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.
Maybe it’s time for the government to take down the bird feeder…
Concerned — Bingo. Plus, using the emergency room for primary care is far more expensive and far less effective than seeing a regular doctor.
All three local hospitals have expanded their emergency rooms in the last decade and are still overwhelmed.
Sort of off subject, but definitely in line– I’ve been following the articles on newsweek.com about hospital trauma centers. I worry about the burden our ERs take, and if they can’t handle the influx of patients (which they can’t turn away if they are alien, uninsured, whatever) they will end up closing, and where will we go when we need care? Of course it’s not what we want to hear, but there is a legitimate crisis that is not going to go away, it will only get worse. I think where the 1/2 cent comes in is that it would keep people out of the ER if they only need primary care- but can’t afford it. The tax would cover their primary care, so the ERs are reserved for emergencies….and the waits are reduced. The hospital won’t get reimbursed from the tax, so the ERs will still operate uncompensated, but we need to address this issue NOW.
Jim, you are delusional if you do not believe people will not accept a raise because it will knock them out of the program. You need to get intouch with that population a little better. Do you know how hard it is to get ANYONE out of a Wealthfare Program? Look at HUD for instance. They encourage them to go to work, right? Sounds great, right? So, they go find a job @ $7.00 / hr or about $280/wk. Since they are working, HUD reduces the amount that they pay. Well, after the taxes and expenses of having a job (child care, more laundry, lunches away from home, etc…) it actually ends up costing the family more to work than it does for them to stay home and collect checks. I have seen this time and time again. Ask somebody in a welfare program how hard it is to get out of the program, unless you find a job that is making significant money (that Escambia Counry has few of). So, do I believe it is reasonable that people will not take a higher paid job (say $1 or $2 and hour more) beacuse the risk of being kicked out? Heck Yes! They may get $320 more per month, but now they will have to pay $500 or more a month on their share of the Insurance Costs.
Lets find a better plan is all I have to say. This plan sounds Great on paper, but there are too many things that are not making since.
Have the Task Force find the Healthiest places to live in the country or state, and let’s find out what they have done. Better yet, let’s find a place that was unhealthy and is now a much healthier place to live and find out what they did to turn their City/County around when it comes to the health of their citizens.
MTP: Healthier lifestyles will address part of the problem, no doubt. Unfortunately, most folks get good health information from their doctors and other health care professionals.
But, if you look at the scope of the problem, you’ll see that it goes far beyond diet and lifestyle. There are many other diseases, ailments and conditions that, if caught early, can be treated effectively. That’s just not happening.
All of us can flex our muscles and talk about how healthy we are . . . right up until the time we find out we have leukemia or breast cancer or heart disease. We can all rant and rave about how we just need to exercise and eat right . . . until we discover a debilitating genetic condition.
And, we can all brag about how we worked our way through school to get a good job that provides health insurance . . . right up until the time our employer drops coverage or we get laid off.
Real people in this community are facing those situations. They are seeking and finding care in our emergency rooms. That’s going to continue until and unless we do something.
Okay, so you don’t want this plan. Let’s hear it. What do we do? The same thing?
For those who missed it in earlier posts, we are paying the price now for the County’s decision to shut down University Hospital, the facility that once served this population. Again, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s just a coincidence that our health indicators have gotten progressively worse over the past 10 years.
Hell, maybe it’s just not that important. But, let’s be honest. Nothing is going to change for the better until we gather to community will to do that.
Sorry, Joe: I didn’t see your post earlier. Yes, wikipedia is incorrect in that it doesn’t explain the entire law. You can exceed the 1.5 cents, provided you don’t exceed 8 cents total.
Health insurance costs are driven in part by local experience — i.e., how much the insurers have to pay out in claims. If you can hold the line on that amount, then the insurers have to hold the line on premiums or risk losing market share to competitors who will.
Which answers are “straw man” style? That wasn’t our intent and if there are some that need to be clearer we will certainly do it.
Taxed out: Yes, I explained in a different topic that I am working with AE to help get this passed.
And today Rick posts the bed tax money that was supposed to do certain things but guess what? it didn’t.
I work to pay for health insurance for my family and would like to see the rates go down, but sorry, I’m not buying it.
Maybe I missed it because the posts were so long, but Jim must be on the board to sell this .
Jim, could you address my post #42?
I agree with Confused and Ichtyman. We’re completying missing the point. I understand the concerns with rising insurance costs. I pay this premium also. We’re facing the consequences for individuals that aren’t taking care of themselves and their families.
We continue to be inundated by information on the media that more and more American’s are becoming overweight and unhealthy. Fast food restaurants are changing their menus
to include “healthier” options.
When are we really seeing this for what it is? We need to educate and not bandaide the problem and create another program at the expense of others for individuals that wont’ be held accountable for their own actions.
We all agree there is a problem. The problem will always exist and programs will continue to be implemented if we don’t handle the root of the problem to begin with.
Ichtyman/WAWT:
Are you guys okay with the way things are and they way they are headed? If so, then vote no on this. But, if you think we need to make some changes, what do you recommend?
My insurance costs have risen from $800 or so per month to $1100 a month in just three years. (It would have been more, but I changed to a less expensive plan.) If I hire a fulltime employee, I can add at least another $400 per month. In January, I’ll get a renewal cost that will be higher still.
Meanwhile, all our health indicators show that things are getting worse. And the number of people without health insurance continues to grow.
We’re headed for a crash here and I’m interested to hear how you think it’s going to be resolved. Also, what do you think it’s going to do to small businesses (which are 93 percent of our Escambia businesses) in the meantime?
No, the commission won’t be responsible, but there will be boards and watchdog committees and staff and more and more and more.
Still don’t think I want anyone to “watch after my money”. Seen too many people get corrupted by the control of money.