Miami-Dade citizens currently pay around $350 million in taxes for indigent healthcare, all of which goes to government-run Jackson Health System. In Broward County, public hospitals collect all the healthcare tax money, which runs to the tune of about $205 million annually.
Advisors to Gov. Rick Scott believe “tax dollars should follow the patient,” meaning any hospital that treats the uninsured should get tax money to pay for that patient. According to the Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association, a hospital’s location generally determines how much uncompensated care it provides, meaning a private hospital in a poor neighborhood could receive many uninsured patients seeking care. The difference, of course, is that private hospitals can turn those patients away, whereas public hospitals are required to provide care for every patient who enters the emergency room.
Read the Miami Herald report on Florida healthcare tax money.
Read more on public hospitals:
–Commissioners Won’t Convert Las Vegas University Medical Center Into Non-Profit
–Fitch Ratings: Non-Profit Hospitals Stable for 2011
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