Prioritize savings | Miami Herald

Letters to the Editor

Prioritize savings

September 03, 2014 07:50 PM

The Aug. 28 article Advocates for poor say Jackson Health System bars needy from charity care, about billing and collection practices at Jackson blamed lousy administrative policies for the situation. But the story paints an inaccurate picture.

The harsh policies were created by hospital administrators. They were the work of hospital executives back when the Miami-Dade County Commission was demanding increases in revenue after years of deficits. These demands for more dollars were met, thanks to policy changes including those mentioned in the story. As a result, patients have suffered.

Next time, perhaps, we should consider the notion that a banker might not be the best fit to run a hospital. And running a little in the red sometimes isn’t so bad if it means that more Miami residents are getting the healthcare they need.

Demanding profits from a public hospital with a charity-care program is like asking one plus one to equal five. It does not and cannot happen. Nor should it. Sure some federal dollars would help, but the moral dilemma will always remain. We should prioritize saving lives over saving dollars.

Brooke Gaebe, Miami

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In the final three weeks of their session, legislators have an opportunity to boost the economy by ensuring that affordable housing trust funds are used for their intended purpose. With the passage of the William E. Sadowski Act in 1992, legislators created a dedicated funding source for the development of affordable housing. Each year, the Act generates hundreds of millions of dollars through the collection of a documentary stamp tax on the sale of real estate. Unfortunately, over the past 10 years, the Legislature has diverted nearly $1.4 billion to balance the state budget. The continued raiding drastically reduces resources needed by local governments and developers to build quality housing for our teachers, police officers and health professionals. Gov. DeSantis and the state Senate are recommending full funding of affordable housing programs in their respective budgets at $331.9 million. However, the state House proposes to again divert $200 million into general revenue, with only $123.6 million going to housing projects. Creating affordable housing not only improves the lives of families, but improves the overall economy. In 2018, the state Legislature siphoned $182 million and allocated only $123 million to affordable housing. According to the Sadowski Housing Coalition, if the full $305 million had been used for affordable housing, the state would have realized $4 billion in total economic impact through the creation of 28,000 construction jobs and $1.4 billion in labor income. To truly address the affordable housing crisis gripping the state, our legislators should work together and refrain from sweeping crucial housing dollars to the state’s general fund. We must act now to address this crisis.

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