April 1, 2017 | Allen Van Driel, CEO
Speaking of the dry winter, I want to take a moment to recognize and thank the volunteer firefighters who worked so hard a few weeks ago when homes and other buildings were threatened by the wildfires. Although we are very fortunate that no homes were actually lost in Smith County, other areas of the state were not so fortunate. And the fortunate outcome locally is only the result of long hours of tiring, dirty work by our volunteers, assisted by multiple other fire departments from other towns and other counties, as well as several farmers who assisted with tractors and discs. Not only did all of these folks put in very long hours, they exposed themselves to significant danger while doing so. And most of them left behind their jobs and businesses to give of their time and expertise to keep us safe. Don’t forget to thank them when you can, and support their upcoming and ongoing fundraising efforts.
One last thing before I quit for this month. Efforts have been underway both at the federal and state level, to pass legislation that would dramatically alter the landscape of the healthcare delivery system in the nation and in Kansas. The American Health Care Act was introduced and debated in the U.S. House of Representatives. It proposed to largely repeal the Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, and replace it with other measures aimed at healthcare delivery. As I’m sure you are aware, the Republicans in the House of Representatives were not able to garner enough votes to pass the bill, and it was withdrawn before being voted down. In my opinion, we are all fortunate that this occurred. There is no question that the Affordable Care Act (dubbed Obamacare by many) has significant faults and needs to be altered in important ways, the American Health Care Act was a bad bill that would have significantly impacted many people who gained healthcare coverage under the ACA. The issues are complex, and while I was not disappointed to see the bill withdrawn, I was disappointed that the Republicans did not follow through with the position they were espousing in early February when I was in Washington and met with the Kansas delegation. At that time, they firmly stated that they realized they had one chance to “do it right” in healthcare legislation, and were determined not to make the mistake made in 2010 when the legislation was rushed through Congress without many of our representatives even knowing what it contained. But then between February and late march, the push became very strong to push the AHCA through, despite the knowledge that it was significantly flawed. I’m sure there will be further discussion at some point of alterations to the ACA, and I hope that when they come, they are discussed in a reasonable fashion with knowledge of the results. More recently (actually, it started out as concurrent action with the action in Washington), the Kansas Legislature debated and passed a bill that would have expanded Medicaid coverage in the state, using federal funds to pay for it in the near term. Although the bill passed the Legislature, Governor Brownback vetoed it, as has been his position throughout the lengthy debate over Medicaid expansion. Significant efforts were made to override the Governor’s veto, but they have proven unsuccessful. According to calculations published by the Kansas Hospital Association, the state has passed up just shy of $1.8 BILLION since 2014 by failing to expand Medicaid. Figures released last week show that passage of the Medicaid expansion legislation would have added funds to the bottom line of every hospital in the State of Kansas. The addition to SCMH’s bottom line was projected at about $150,000 per year. That’s not a huge amount, but it represents about half of the amount we receive each year from property tax support. And it represents funds that will have to continue to come from local tax support, because the cost of providing care doesn’t go away. Somehow, with the current budget mess facing the State of Kansas, it doesn’t seem logical to pass up infusion of new federal funds. But for now, Kansas will continue to contribute our federal tax dollars to other states instead of assuring that they come back to Kansas. Stay tuned.
Out here in Farm Country, Spring means new growth. It means planting for new growth. And for new growth to occur, conditions have to be right. Among the conditions that have to be right is adequate moisture in the soil. Some of that can come from snowfall over the winter months, but much of it comes from spring rains. Well, we didn’t get much in the way of winter snows this year, but we’re certainly getting the spring rains. In addition to new growth in crops this spring, we’re experiencing new growth on the new building project. But contrary to the beneficial effect plentiful rain has on crops, it has pretty well brought progress on the building project to a halt for the time being. The dirt contractor had gotten a good start at shaping the contours of the site when the rains started. So since the topsoil was mostly removed and saved for reuse later, the dirt underneath is packed pretty hard. As a result, the rain can’t soak in nearly as well as it can on farm fields. So we have some pretty large puddles of standing water currently. Once the rain subsides for awhile, we’ll be able to resume work. But rest assured, there are delays like this built into the overall schedule for the project, so there’s no serious harm done, and the benefit the farmers enjoy from the rain far outweighs the slowdown we’re experiencing.