Top Ten List: Shit our Democrats say, or "The Top Ten Reasons Why It's the Hospital Sale, Stupid."

In 2016, Floyd County government officials, most but not all of them Republicans, approved the sale of Floyd Memorial Hospital, now known as Baptist Health Floyd.

Denied a $$$piece$$$ of the action, and as ever conveniently ignoring the fact that the city of New Albany is located within the county of Floyd, municipal Democrats have since become disturbingly prone to shifting any discussion whatever -- about public policy, private behavior or the best ribs in town -- to whining about the county's sale of the hospital.

Following are NA Confidential's Top Ten Reasons Why It's the Hospital Sale, Stupid.

10. We had to flip sides and subsidize the Summit Springs Luxury Mudslide Strip Mine Fun Park, give sewer tap-in waivers to wealthy Indy developers for the Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats, and strong-arm millions of dollars from the Horseshoe Foundation to spread around town like Jolly Ranchers ... all because of the hospital sale.

9. Once the dastardly Republicans sold the hospital, we had no choice except to take over the housing authority, give David Duggins a raise, evict the residents and demolish their homes. In fact, Duggins was so depressed about the hospital sale that he went to Keeneland for contractor therapy.

8. We had to paint anchors on every stationary object (and probably a few squirrels). Republicans sold the hospital, you know, and anchors are a well-known symbol of resistance.

7. If not for the hospital sale, we wouldn't have found it expedient to accuse Al Knable of crimes against humanity as they pertain to insignificant comments about separate 9-1-1 emergency call centers.

6. We had to spend $10 million on a new luxury city hall because after all, the damn Republicans sold the hospital out from under us.

5. Susie said if the hospital hadn't been sold, there'd have been no need for the school referendum we supported.

4. C'mon, face it, any Democratic city recoiling from the horror of Republicans selling the hospital would understand why we transformed a revolutionary two-way street grid modernization plan into just another pay-to-play, vote-buying, shoddy-ass downtown paving project.

3. Yes, it's true that when we split the city-county parks department, built a veritable Titanic of water parks and added $3 million yearly in parks and recreation budgetary outlays, the hospital had yet to be sold, but Adam said we were just being pre-emptive.

2. Why would anyone want to see Bob Caesar's sacred Bicentennial Commission financial records when the Republicans sold that hospital?

1. If Jeff Gahan doesn't get re-elected, and if Democrats don't retain control of the city, so many heads are going to roll, and so many loyalist beaks will be cruelly denied their traditional wetting, that the hospital sale's going to seem like chump change by comparison. Consequently, if yelling "Remember the Hospital Sale!" helps Democrats hold power, it saves us the trouble of asking Comrade Putin to hack the election results ... in return for the hospital.

An exchange of views: The Floyd Memorial sale, Baptist Health Systems and indigent care costs.

A reader recently commented:

The Floyd Memorial Hospital wrote off 35 million dollars last year for indigent medical care because the local patients simply couldn't pay for the services they needed.

For many years, the city of New Albany has carefully stockpiled citizens who rely on government assistance to live. Most of those can't afford hospital care. The final deal with Baptist Health Systems gives the city only 5 million a year for five years toward "indigent care". Who will administer the 5 million annually and how will the folks who will have the obvious 30 million (at least) in additional, unpaid indigent hospital care costs next year get their care? Will bodies be stacked like cordwood along Bono Road?

This city has a rich history of relying on the federal teat for everything. It will end, and it won't happen according to a City Hall schedule.

Daniel J. Eichenberger, President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services, was given a chance to reply.

I am unclear as to where this information related to defined number for charity care originated. I do not know of any such defined number. One of the reasons Baptist was chosen was because they were a not-for-profit entity and the task force felt this would likely benefit the community more substantially when it came to charity care. As part of our FAQ’s we provided to our employees, the following question and answer deals with this issue. I hope this is helpful.

How would you describe Baptist Health’s commitment to the communities served, including the level of charity care provided?

A. The first Baptist Health hospital was opened in 1924 to fulfill its Christ-centered mission of caring for the ill and infirmed. Although the mission has been expressed in numerous ways over the past 90 years, at the heart of each mission statement is the desire to demonstrate the love of Christ through the healing ministry in each of our hospitals’ respective communities. Despite the changing paradigm of healthcare delivery, Baptist Health remains committed to not only make the sick well, but equally as important, to enhance the health of those we serve by providing care to patients regardless of race, sex, national origin, disability, age or their ability to pay. We believe that it is our responsibility to provide medically necessary care to all who are in need, without regard to ability to pay, yet within the reasonable bounds of responsible stewardship. Last year, the cost of charity care provided by Baptist Health for its communities was more than $62 million.

Further, we believe it is our responsibility to contribute to the improvement of the general health and wellness of our community and environment through effective community education and involvement in community health improvement activities and promotions. These activities include such things as: health fairs and screenings, speaking engagements, educational programs and classes for community groups and individuals, support groups, donating space to community groups, sponsoring community fitness events/fun runs, partnering with local schools to sponsor Project Fit, healthcare education and other promotions for children, especially those who might be in poor health and at high risk. Last year, the cost of these programs was more than $3.3 million. In addition, Baptist Health made nearly $1.8 million in cash donations to community organizations.

Finally, we believe it is our responsibility to contribute to the health of our community through a continuum of care, even when it means maintaining unprofitable services that meet important community needs. Last year, the cost of unprofitable services provided by Baptist Health to our communities was nearly $12 million.

Thoughts?

Floyd County Council approves $150-300-eleventy million hospital privatization windfall. No wonder there are so many county government candidates.

"In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.”
― Czesław Miłosz

First, something we'd been told was inevitable -- which naturally should make us suspicious. Chris Morris (Picayune de la Jeffersonvillia) has the scoop, with expanded story to come:

Floyd council agrees to Baptist Health's $150M offer for Floyd Memorial Hospital

NEW ALBANY — The Floyd County Council on Tuesday evening unanimously voted for a nonbinding agreement to sell Floyd Memorial Hospital to Baptist Health Systems for $150 million.

Louisville-based Baptist's offer is $75 million at the sale's completion and another $75 million to be paid out over 10 years.

In fact, some folks already were suspicious, even if the newspaper's seldom-deployed editorial board was not: OUR OPINION: The time is right to sell Floyd Memorial Hospital.

The view from Clark County? It's all copacetic. Anyway, it's Morris again.

Floyd Memorial Hospital cuts list to three suitors; Some officials upset over lack of information

 ... However, longtime commissioner Chuck Freiberger said before he votes on a sale, he wants more details. He said he has received "very little information" and said there has been no transparency through the entire process.

"There was a task force formed without my knowledge and they have been meeting for about a year. I am told they are taking bids ... I think that is a problem," he said. "The public should be told. It's been kept hush, hush from the public."

Mark Seabrook represented the commissioners on the task force and Steve Bush sat in when Seabrook was absent. Bush said there was very little they were able to disclose due to the nature of the negotiations. He said members had to sign a confidentiality form.

I'm guessing it's too late for a referendum, but 2016 is a Floyd County election cycle. There is a huge amount of money involved, and yet every politician and hospital administrator close to the negotiations accepted terms of non-transparency.

There hasn't been much sunshine in this instance. As Bluegill previously noted on Fb:

The whole thing sounds like one of Dr. Eichenberger's blog posts. We must sell because it can't possibly make it as a public institution and we must sell now because it's in such good financial standing. Oh, and we voluntarily signed confidentiality agreements so the fact that we can't talk about it is not our fault. This is a guy who strenuously argued that whether or not people can access health services should not be considered in measuring health system quality. 

(Remember NA Health? The archives remain.)

My point, predictably offered in vain, is this: If we must wait for the outcome of the presidential election to appoint a Supreme Court justice, under the GOP's rationale that the voters need to decide, as opposed to the incumbents, then doesn't Floyd County's GOP-dominated government owe it to the citizenry to wait until after the forthcoming election before deciding what’s to become of Floyd Memorial Hospital?

Let the candidates state their preference, and let the voters choose. It's only fair, right?

$150 million says that ain't happening.