Travis County Voters OK Hospital District

[Servo300]

Sat May 15,10:51 PM ET
Voters in Travis County approved a new hospital district that will raise taxes on many residents.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=382&ncid=382&e=1&u=/keye/20040516/lo_keye/traviscountyvotersokhospitaldistrict

[jobycom]

1. I was worried, but Austin came through

The Repubs were trying to spin this as a tax increase, and it was hard to see how well it was playing to the voters.

Because Texas law is screwy, the hospitals in Austin had to rely for funding on the city of Austin alone, not outlying areas. Taxes could not be raised directly for the hospital, they had to be allocated from the city budget. The outlying areas used the hospital, but didn't pay for it. The hospital was so underfunded that it could not handle an emergency such as a school bus accident. Kids would have to be sent an hour south to San Antonio.

Every other big city in Texas solved this problem by setting up a hospital district comprising the city and the outlying counties served by their hospitals. So Austin was trying. It was almost done before, but the Repubs took revenge on Austin (and our kids) for the quorum busting actions led by Austin Democrats over redistricting.

In Austin, taxes won't go up, because Austin law requires them to lower their taxes to match the taxes raised by the district. In the outlying areas, property taxes will increase a small amount to pay for what people are already getting for free.

[Lithos]

2. Question (things have changed when I lived in Austin)

How does taxpayer money enter the hospital system? I remember Brack was the City of Austin Hospital, but Seton, which is a private organization, was running it last I heard. Or are they just managing it now?

[sonias]

3. Yes it was a good outcome on both

Both on the hospital district and the Firefighters right to collective bargaining.

The structure of the district hasn't been worked out completely, but the basics are that within the taxing area everyone has to pay in to cover the costs. The way it works right now is that most indigent care goes to Brackenridge or many of the City of Austin's clinics or the People's Clinic. So all the health care costs for the very poor, are only being paid by Austin residents even though many of these costs come from outside the area. Naturally the cities and towns that weren't paying anything for health care for the poor didn't want to pay for any of it now. Austin supported the new district heavily. It's about time everyone paid their fair share and that we have better health services for all.

Yeah for Austin voters!

Here's a link to the Austin Chronicle's run down on the district
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-04-30/pols_feature9.html
A hospital district, Herman says, would be better able to direct funding toward the county's health care shortcomings. If voters approve the measure, a single taxing authority would be created to oversee planning and funding of the county's public health network, bringing the city's Brackenridge, Children's, and Women's hospitals, along with the city-county health clinics, under the purview of a district board. The district would establish a uniform tax system county wide, with county residents paying what city residents already pay now – 7.3 cents per $100 of property valuation – toward public health care services.

Sonia