The present county tax price dialogue is my third as president and CEO of Harris Well being System. Whereas I’m grateful to our elected leaders on the Harris County Commissioners Court docket for his or her service to our neighborhood, I’m profoundly saddened by the message that I’m listening to from our court docket:
To the uninsured inhabitants of Harris County
, be grateful for what you’re getting by way of your entry to well being care. By no means thoughts that you’ll have to wait longer for or forgo primary and important preventive care, together with most cancers screening. And by no means thoughts that you’ll have to wait an unreasonable period of time to see your major care or specialist physician.
To the general public typically
, by no means thoughts that a lot of you’ll die of preventable illnesses when your early-stage breast most cancers, lung most cancers and colon most cancers go undiagnosed. By no means thoughts that a lot of you reside in
ZIP codes that on average have a life expectancy of 20 years
lower than the extra prosperous ZIP codes on this county.
And by no means thoughts that we proceed to place behind bars members of our neighborhood whose solely crime is affected by psychological sickness as an alternative of investing in our neighborhood psychological well being companies.
To Harris Well being System
, be grateful to obtain solely what it’s essential to get by. By no means thoughts changing into aggressive with the remainder of the well being methods in our county by way of amenities, gear and wages. By no means thoughts investing in your previous and crumbling infrastructure. And by no means thoughts attempting to extend entry to preventive care, major care and specialty companies for essentially the most weak populations in our county.
We hear all this loud and clear when, regardless of clear proof of the detrimental influence it has on the steadiness of our public hospital system, Harris Well being System is confronted with
one more spherical of decreased monetary assist
and a discount in our tax price. This discount in assist comes though Harris Well being System is the most important public hospital system in Texas, and already receives
the bottom tax greenback assist per county resident in comparison with all different massive public hospitals in Texas.
Our revenues — together with our tax assist — proceed to fall in need of what we have to enhance the well being of our communities and stop sickness and untimely demise. On the identical time, the price of well being care continues to extend. Much like all different well being methods in Houston, Harris Well being continues to be negatively impacted by unprecedented inflation and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. In reality,
Harris Well being System’s price of care elevated by 26 p.c or $420 million {dollars} over simply the previous two years
. A No New Income price will solely put us in a deeper monetary gap.
The time has come for Harris County to evaluate the suitable degree of funding in its individuals and the companies important to make sure a wholesome neighborhood. I implore our court docket to return collectively to fund our public hospital system to the extent that it wants, and deserves.
Esmaeil Porsa is the president and CEO of the Harris Well being System.
