Jeannette Phillips is ecstatic that the nation”™s sweeping health care reform bill finally came to fruition.
A deacon at Park Street AME Church in Peekskill, Phillips was one of the founders of Hudson River Health Care more than three decades ago. Still active in her church, she is just as active in the health care storefront she helped to bring to life, acting as HRHC”™s vice president.
Phillips said what prompted her to get into the grassroots effort to establish a clinic was “the indignity of having to go to the basement of city hall and stand behind curtains to be examined. We weren”™t treated with any respect. The community came together and we were funded under the Great Society program that was still in existence back then.”
Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, said Phillips, would “be happy to be here and celebrate with us. It took a long time for us to get here, but we”™ve finally arrived at dignified health care for the poor and working-class families of our communities. It has truly been a faith walk.”
Phillips said HRHC”™s original seed money was $285,000. Today, the budget for the community health care centers around the region, which get more than 150,000 patient visits a year, total $39 million.
“This legislation will go to help a lot of folks that need services but can”™t get them or can”™t afford the co-pays,” Phillips said. “For me, it”™s a miraculous day. We”™ll see what the future holds, but it”™s truly a wonderful beginning. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, especially when they need a doctor.”
Dr. Daniel Aronzon, president and CEO of Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, agrees. While VBMC enjoys a healthy reputation ”“ low mortality rates, the first to use medical bar-coding and one of the top 42 hospitals nationwide ”“it has $32 million a year in charity cases that go unreimbursed.
“You don”™t turn anyone away from an emergency room,” said Aronzon after listening to U.S. Rep. John Hall talk about the new legislation. “We are really not sure how it will affect hospitals. We do know what some of the cuts in reimbursement will be. What we don”™t know is what proportion of patients being treated that have no insurance will now be covered. That”™s the big question.”
Aronzon said Vassar Brothers, like all other hospitals, has a mission to help the sick and injured. “Every person who comes through our door is treated. They all get billed, whether they have insurance or not. If we can”™t collect, we can”™t collect.
“Right now, we know what charitable care costs us. What we don”™t know is what we will get in return under this new legislation. Even if we get some of that money back and Medicaid is cut, we”™ll be OK. We just don”™t know by how much. I”™m sure there will be more pencil sharpening and language to make it more clear.”
