We decided to follow the lead of the Shelby County Commission and ask the four remaining major Tennessee gubernatorial candidates about The Regional Medical Center at Memphis. More precisely, we wanted to hear how Republicans Bill Haslam (the Knoxville mayor and wealthy inheritor of Pilot truck-stop business), Ron Ramsey (state senate speaker) and Zach Wamp (congressman from Chattanooga) and Democrat Mike McWherter (wealthy Jackson businessman, son of former Gov. Ned McWherter) and would respond the the specific commitment commissioners want candidates to make -- whether, as governor, they will return to The Med all of the federal funding Tennessee receives based on billings the safety-net hospital generates off uncompensated-care claims.
From the story:
"We are asking them to make the statement that The Med will get back its fair share," Flinn said.
We didn't go into some of the other issues that candidates like to discuss when it comes to The Med, because, frankly, every candidate who has ever tried to win support from Shelby County voters concerned about The Med gives some version of the same ol', same ol'. It goes like this: "What we're going to do is, we're going to get all the stakeholders in a room together and lock 'em in there and bang some heads together and get some results. Then we're going to go to Arkansas and Mississippi, and we're going to make them pay their fair share. Also, efficiency. Unlike all the other people who have had to deal with The Med, we're going to wave a magic wand and find savings nobody else was able to ever notice. And did we mention we're going to make Arkansas and Mississippi pay their fair share? Don't forget about the part where we get all the Tennessee congressman and senators together. That one sounds especially good."
Check out the story to see how the candidates responded.
From the story:
According to County Commissioner Mike Ritz, The Med generates $81 million in federal funding for the state based on its uncompensated-care billings. But instead of shipping back to Shelby County all $81 million, say Ritz and his fellow commissioners, the state has given the hospital just $29 million to $39 million each year. And it is the governor who ultimately determines what portion of the federal funding goes back to The Med and what is redistributed. "It is at the governor's sole discretion," (commissioner George) Flinn said. Even with recent improvements in efficiency and finances, The Med insists it needs an additional $32 million each year to operate and make necessary capital improvements.Commissioners who supported sending out the pledge (it goes out mid-April) admit it doesn't solve anything, but it does force candidates to either make a direct commitment to something tangible which they would control as governor . . . or choose to finesse the question. Candidates always offer all kinds of reasons why they will save The Med, but the county commissioners who have been dealing with the issue believe the one way the next governor can most change the dynamic involves how those funds for uncompensated-care billings are distributed.
"We are asking them to make the statement that The Med will get back its fair share," Flinn said.
We didn't go into some of the other issues that candidates like to discuss when it comes to The Med, because, frankly, every candidate who has ever tried to win support from Shelby County voters concerned about The Med gives some version of the same ol', same ol'. It goes like this: "What we're going to do is, we're going to get all the stakeholders in a room together and lock 'em in there and bang some heads together and get some results. Then we're going to go to Arkansas and Mississippi, and we're going to make them pay their fair share. Also, efficiency. Unlike all the other people who have had to deal with The Med, we're going to wave a magic wand and find savings nobody else was able to ever notice. And did we mention we're going to make Arkansas and Mississippi pay their fair share? Don't forget about the part where we get all the Tennessee congressman and senators together. That one sounds especially good."
Check out the story to see how the candidates responded.
Leave a comment