I n reference to a recent op-ed piece that appeared in Greater Media Newspapers, “Curley: County Health Care Facilities Must Be Privatized,” this is a perfect example of politicians talking out of both sides of their mouth.
On one side, Monmouth County Freeholder John Curley says the Monmouth County freeholders have the opportunity to “put the county on a more stable financial footing” by selling — presumably at firesale prices after the talk about losses upon losses — the two county-run, taxpayerowned, long-term care facilities, John L. Montgomery and Geraldine L. Thompson.
Freeholder Curley accomplishes this by scaring taxpayers with $40 million in cumulative losses over seven years.
On the other side, he admits the county has excessive surpluses — the most recent financial audit puts that at $122 million or 23 percent of the annual budget — and the county “will use $43 million of reserves in the 2014 budget to bring in a flat tax rate.”
I have never actually seen printed in words more blatant doubletalk: We must sell out our most vulnerable citizens, but we have got so much money in the bank that we don’t know what to do with it.
Even if the losses per year for each of the facilities are true — which this accountant doubts — isn’t it best to put it to the taxpayers to determine if they want to continue to fund the care of these citizens before going to the newspapers ad nauseam to propagandize an agenda stating that these facilities must be privatized?
What magical wand will for-profit purchasers wave to save the financial losses?
How will the current long-term-care providers be protected from wage cuts, pension gutting, health care finagling and overall excessive job losses? These are workers who make, on average, $26,000 per year.
It is laughable to think the profit-first health care industry will take care of these facilities, and it is ludicrous to consider that our health care industry has “evolved into a comprehensive health care system with private corporations leading the way.”
Yes, they are leading the way to substandard care and personal bankruptcy.
Everyone mandated under the new health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, must purchase a defective product from profit-first health insurers — tens of thousands of dollars out-of-pocket in the form of premiums, copays, deductibles and co-insurance in narrow provider networks before medical care can be provided.
In what sane society is this progress? Lynn Petrovich Oakhurst