global banner-COUPONS
Wilson County News
Blogs header-Segel blog header
Wilson County News • 1012 C St • Floresville • TX • 78114 • Ph: 830-216-4519 • Fax: 830-393-3219 • Email:
Tuesday, Feb 9, 2010
Login
Not a subscriber? Click here.
 
E-Mail
Password
  Remember me
 
  Forgot your password?
  Set up your password
Proposed Healthcare Reform Keeps Hospital Doors Closed

E-Mail this Story to a Friend
Print this Story

Disclaimer:
Thomas Segel is responsible for this content, which is not edited by the Wilson County News or wilsoncountynews.com.

November 20, 2009 | 57 comments

Harlingen, Texas, November 18, 2009: If we are to believe the nightly news reports, half of our population is eagerly awaiting the Obama Administration’s healthcare reform bill to bring about lower prices, faster service and medical care to everyone. That mantra may be a soothing promise to some of those who are currently uninsured, but to the citizens of San Benito, Texas it means they still do not even have a hospital to provide current of future treatment.

Three years ago the former for-profit Dolly Vinsant Hospital closed its doors, unable to generate the revenue it needed to keep providing treatment to local residents. San Benito, a city of 30,000 people, no longer had the hospital services that had existed there since the end of World War II.

In 2008 a number of primary care doctors and surgeons formed the San Benito Hospital Partners, spent $1.1 million to buy the foreclosed hospital property and promised the city its largest economic development project in recent years. They were prepared to invest in a multi-million dollar renovation and reconstruction project and open the doors by this fall with plans for it to provide general hospital care and specialized surgeries.

Excitement was everywhere in San Benito. Local leaders saw a future increase in property tax revenue. People who had lost their jobs when the former hospital went out of business were eagerly hoping they would be among the first healthcare providers hired by the new facility. A huge sign was placed in front of the building…”Opening In The Fall of 2009”.

The sign is still in front of the building today, but nothing else has happened.

What went wrong? Barack Obama was elected President of the United States in November 2008. He had campaigned on the promise of healthcare reform and among the many things he promised to change, if elected, was that no doctor would have ownership in a hospital. Since this huge economic development project was completely funded by doctors, there were serious concerns among investors about the future of the project. The San Benito Hospital Partners had already invested $1.1 million of their own money in the hospital with no certainty they could even recoup that investment, let alone the multi-millions of dollars that would be required to open the doors of the facility. Everything came to a halt. A year has now passed without a single nail being pounded at the hospital site. There are no plans to move forward with the project until there is a clear picture of healthcare’s future in the United States.

The only certainty is, if Obama’s plan to deny hospital ownership to medical practitioners remains active someplace within those 2,000 plus pages of healthcare reform legislation, the only hospital San Benito, Texas will have is one with boarded up windows and padlocked doors.
 
« Previous Blog Entry (November 13, 2009)
 


Your Opinions and Comments
 
2010 Begins the End  
Pendulum Swings  
November 29, 2009 8:14am
 
 
I don't recall changing the subject, but I did notice this particular comment:
"On to the auto industry being government owned (approx. 61%) which is scheduled to ... Read More Read More
 
 
Mediation Time  
La Vernia, TX  
November 28, 2009 2:57pm
 
 
Ask 2010 Begins the End - he's the one that changed the subject and brought it up...
 
 
What the....?  
Disillusion, TX  
November 28, 2009 9:08am
 
 
What does any of that previous comment have to do with this article and discussion about a hospital closing? Did I miss something?

.... "Troubled Assets.".... ... Read More Read More
 
 
Mediation Time  
La Vernia, TX  
November 28, 2009 8:44am
 
 
The "Can we now blame this on GWB" was rhetorical only used to make a point - the situation in the article can't be blamed on GWB just as it cannot be blamed ... Read More Read More
 
 
2010 Begins the End  
Pendulum Swings  
November 28, 2009 8:27am
 
 
""Can we now blame this on GWB??? LMAO!!!""

I'm beginning to think some folks just copy and paste stuff, over and over like a Chatty Kathy doll. ... Read More Read More
 
 
Mediation Time  
La Vernia, TX  
November 28, 2009 7:37am
 
 
Really, nothing more than continued ignorant rantings on your part, trying to "guess" what happened instead of actually trying to find out for yourself... ... Read More Read More
 
 
2010 Begins the End  
Pendulum Swings  
November 28, 2009 7:07am
 
 
Ah, come on now. Research all day and you won't find it spelled out in so many words. But we all know why it happened. It's happened in other places too. It's a problem ... Read More Read More
 
 
Mediation Time  
La Vernia, TX  
November 27, 2009 8:32pm
 
 
Were there just too many big words for you to understand? I've recommended Sylvan to many before in the past perhaps they can help you with that reading comprehension problem ... Read More Read More
 
 
Rock'n chair Rambler  
Over Taxed, TX  
November 27, 2009 7:48pm
 
 
The article left me wondering why the hospital went out of business in the first place. Could it be that more folks were using it that couldn't pay, than those that could? ... Read More Read More
 
 
Mediation Time  
La Vernia, TX  
November 27, 2009 3:09pm
 
 
I suppose the author of the article didn't see the need to depict what was really going on or that it just really wasn't that important and it must be what he considers ... Read More Read More
 

Share your comment or opinion on this story!


You must be logged in to post comments:



Other Tell It Like It Is


Tell It Like It Is bio
 
^Top
  Copyright © 2007-2009 Wilson County News. All rights reserved. Web development by Drewa Designs.
^Top