Oktibbeha County Hospital
Friends of OCH:
Would you sell your home valued at $130,000 for a mere $60,000? From that $60,000, what if you had to pay off a mortgage of $35,000, leaving you a profit of only $25,000. I doubt you would, but that is exactly what three supervisors propose.
OCH, which is valued at $130 million, was estimated to sell for $20-60 million, and this example assumes the hospital will sell for $60 million (the highest value). If the hospital sells for $20 million, (low figure) there will be no profit since bonds owed exceed $20 million.
The current financial situation at our hospital is occurring all over the state with bottom lines being impacted. Services provided are up, but reimbursements are down by insurance companies.
This leads to hospitals closing services that are not profitable to save money. It has come to my attention that NMMC lost $30 million over the past 10 months system-wide. As a result NMMC has announced the closing of some services and is suing BC/BS of Mississippi. OCH has not closed or reduced any services.
Taxes will not be increased to cover any shortfall. That will be covered by cash reserves of greater than $21 million. The hospital has never asked the supervisors to bail out any financial shortfall of the hospital.
I note that the supervisors just increased taxes by 2 mills. This means citizens will pay more taxes on their home, car tags, business fixtures and equipment. Does anybody really believe if the hospital sells taxes will be reduced? Why don’t (“How about” instead?) you ask your supervisor.
Steve Parvin, M.D. retired
Starkville
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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