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Protesters tell county not to slash health care
By KATHRYN WEXLER, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- The 30 or so protesters came armed with small printed signs that read, "NO CUTS to Health Care Services!" Their ire was aimed at Hillsborough County commissioners, who are primed to slash indigent health care in the face of mounting medical costs and dwindling reserves. During part of the public hearing Monday evening, they strategically positioned their placards so public access monitors couldn't help but broadcast the silent protest to Hillsborough County living rooms. "BOO!" read a few of the signs. After 45 minutes, Chairman Pat Frank had had enough. "Someone is complaining about the signs on TV," she said. "If you have any signs, go to the back of the room. I just want to make sure we don't obstruct the vision of anyone else." The group, mostly middle-aged women and men, quietly complied and put away their signs. One continued to stand in the back room, holding two placards. But a dozen or so urged vocally, in soft-spoken pleas, that commissioners somehow spare the health care plan from cuts that would make it harder for people with catastrophic illness to qualify for the county's health plan. "I'm asking you to keep people from dying from poverty," said Gael Murphy. Another speaker, Carol Millman, told commissioners, "Having people spend down to the poverty line" before they can get public assistance "means they're going hungry. Which they are in this community." The commissioners meet Wednesday for a workshop to study recommendations by the Health Care Advisory Board how to reduce the health plan benefits and qualifications while doing the least amount of damage to the plan, projected to cost $97-million next year. They also will also consider what other county programs will have to be cut to make ends meet. There were a couple in the audience, though, like conservative political activist and businessman Ralph Hughes, who said the county has no business in the health provider industry. "Our plan will bankrupt our county," Hughes said. "Our plan attempts to be everything for everybody." But the vast majority called for more funding and expanded services for destitute residents, legal immigrants and the working poor. "I don't think any of you are poor," Cheryl Houpe chided commissioners. For them to protect the health care plan, she said, "That's what I feel it would take."
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From the Times |
