The Collin County Observer

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DMN - Collin County commissioners approve income cap for those seeking health care from nonprofit agencies

06/16/09

Permalink 10:31:23 am, by bill Email , 352 words,   English (US)
Categories: News Clippings, Indigent Healthcare

DMN - Collin County commissioners approve income cap for those seeking health care from nonprofit agencies

Collin County commissioners approve income cap for those seeking health care from nonprofit agencies

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
By ED HOUSEWRIGHT / The Dallas Morning News

WYLIE – Collin County commissioners voted 3-2 on Monday to set income limits for people who seek health care from nonprofit agencies that receive county funds.

Individuals will not be allowed to earn more than $10,830 annually, while the cap for families of four was set at $22,050. The new policy will take effect in October with the start of the next fiscal year.

Nine nonprofit agencies now receive a total of almost $200,000 to treat the indigent. Currently, the county does not require the clinics to ask patients to state their incomes.

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people packed the emotional meeting at Wylie City Hall. County Judge Keith Self and commissioners Jerry Hoagland and Matt Shaheen voted in favor of the income guidelines. Commissioners Joe Jaynes and Kathy Ward voted against the requirements.

"We're required by law to take care of poor people," Hoagland said. "I believe we're more than adequately doing it now."

However, Jaynes said commissioners were placing too many restrictions on the nonprofit agencies.

"We're tightening restrictions on a program that gives us some of the biggest bang for our buck," he said.

Shaheen said commissioners were simply making the income requirements consistent across the board.

The county also provides indigent health care at a publicly run clinic in McKinney? and PrimaCare? medical centers throughout the county. Both use the same income guidelines that were adopted for nonprofits Monday.

"I don't think this reflects a lack of compassion," Shaheen said.

More than two dozen people spoke either for or against the income guidelines.

Opponents said Collin County, one of the most affluent counties in the state, was being hard-hearted in these tough economic times by adopting the limits.

"We feel this is a moral issue for commissioners as well as a fiscal one," said the Rev. Patrick Price of Community Unitarian Universalist Church in Plano.

Supporters of the caps said commissioners should limit health-care spending and encourage charities to provide the care.

link to article on the DMN....

PermalinkPermalink 4 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Dell [Visitor] Email
In other words - the only people who will qualify under these guidelines are illegal immigrants, because the $10,830 annual income breaks down to applicants earning $5.21 cents per hour - based on a 40 hour week. 98% of those with ONLY Social Security for income wouldn't qualify.

"We're required by law to take care of poor people," Hoagland said. "I believe we're more than adequately doing it now."

That quote, if accurate, has to be one of the biggest lies ever told.

Clearly, Collin county wants to remain the Hotsy-Totsy rich county...with a golf course on every corner and a swimming pool in every back yard. That's a given. They just don't want the folks who maintain those high-end frills to live here, and for God's sake don't get sick or hurt here!
PermalinkPermalink 06/16/09 @ 11:09
Comment from: bill [Member] Email
Dell,

By a Texas Attorney General's opinion and Collin County policy, illegal immigrants do not qualify at all.

Bill
PermalinkPermalink 06/16/09 @ 12:31
Comment from: Dell [Visitor] Email
Bill,

I fully understand that, my friend. Which makes my comment even more significant. Based on the decided guidelines, practically NO ONE is eligible for indigent health care in Collin County Texas. I dare say the commissioners have never experienced a year in their entire lives with that amount of money on which to survive. It's pocket change to most of them....
PermalinkPermalink 06/16/09 @ 14:11
Comment from: Dell [Visitor] Email
These are the very same commissioners who would instantly approve every local high school football budget and, in the same breath, deny medical assistance to their grandparents because "it costs too much". There's little or no common sense in the process at all.
PermalinkPermalink 06/17/09 @ 07:57

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