We attended the open house to meet the new leaders of Ty Cobb Healthcare last
week. It is too early to tell if the three men we met can right the ship,
but we wish them success. This facility is too vital to the tri-county area
to be allowed to founder.
Over the past year, Ty Cobb has undergone the resignation of its long-time
CEO, a reduction in staff, and replacement of several key people at the top.
It is still unclear as to what all the problems were, but some of them were,
and are, not uncommon in the health-care field.
For example, government intrusion into health care has placed an ever-increasing
burden on hospitals and doctors. Medicare and Medicaid, along with HMO’s
and group insurance plans, have put the financial squeeze on both.
Yet the public, through its elected representatives, continues to demand more
for less. An example of this is in the area of obstetrics. A statistic we
read on the internet recently is shocking. Seventy percent of black babies,
and twenty-seven percent of white ones are born out of wedlock.
Medicaid for prenatal care, delivery, and up to sixty days of post delivery
care, bears a heavy burden for this. Yet enrollment has been simplified, and
a family of two can get Medicaid for obstetrics, even though their income
exceeds two thousand dollars a month.
But unwed mothers are only part of the problem. For example, with medical
costs rising, an increasing number of people are transferring assets to take
advantage of Medicaid. Tax laws over the years have encouraged this practice.
It seems that nobody wants to pass up a free lunch.
What can be done to save Ty Cobb Hospital? We do not know. Is its condition
dire? We do not know. And therein lies the problem. Neither we, nor the general
public, knows what is going on.
What we DO know is that the uncertainty, the rumors, and the discontent over
the past months have been unsettling to the community.
Introduction of the new administrators at Ty Cobb was a good first step; however,
a lot more needs to be done. We, the public, either through apathy or fear,
have not sought answers in the past. Instead, we have gossiped, griped, and
grumbled.
And the board, for the most part, has remained silent.
The new team deserves better. They have a tough row to hoe. Silence and rumors
won't cut it.
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Editor "section. ed.)