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Show felfw Mmi In ilRMJail idd)L4bi ill mm mmM li 1 111 dil yJ lilil3il hirs By GARY R. BLODGETT FARMINGTON What obligation does a county have to care for the medical needs of its indigent residents? THIS QUESTION has been hotly debated de-bated with various agencies for several months and Davis County Commission is looking for an answer. The commission met last week with representatives rep-resentatives of the Division of Health Care financing, State Department of Health, who asked the commission to consider joining the state program for indigent health care. "THIS MAY be the way to go," said Comm. Ernest Eberhard, who represents the commission for health. "We'd like to study the state program further but we are interested." Meanwhile, Comm. Eberhard suggested that the commission be placed in a better position regarding indigent care by setting some definite guidelines of who will recuve the care and what scope of service the county can afford. PRESENTLY, it was explained, the county indigent program is necessary because be-cause the county is obligated to provide medical care to indigent persons. But to what extent should the care be carried out? And who should or should not receive this care? "THESE PROBLEMS still exist," said Comm. Eberhard. "We try to handle each case individually but it's becoming more difficult to determine who should or should not be eligible, and to what extent (financially) (finan-cially) the county is obligated." Neal Christensen, director of State Health Care Financing, told the commission commis-sion if the county joined the state healthcare health-care program as nine counties have done thus far commissioners would not have to be concerned about screening each applicant ap-plicant or determine what scope of service the indigent should receive. "WE (STATE) would take over that responsibility," re-sponsibility," said Mr. Christensen. "And the state could probably provide a more complete program than can each county individually." He told the commission that the state-operated state-operated program would act as "an insurance insur-ance policy" for the state. "THE COUNTY would pay to the state so much for these services, similar to paying insurance premiums, and the state would then be obligated to pay for the medical service rendered based on the state's policies and guidelines," he said. Presently, the county is using one-fourth of a mill levy to pay for indigent medical expenses. THE COMMISSION was told that each county is responsible for providing limited (adequate) indigent care, but this same care can be handled by the state if counties desire de-sire to enter the state program. Mr. Christensen said the State Health Care program has nine counties involved and a budget of $1.8 million. "WE OPERATE a modest and very tight program," said Mr. Christensen. "Our budget is determined largely on the number of counties participating, thus Davis County Coun-ty will probably not be able to join the state program for at least nine months." He explained that the health care department depart-ment asked for additional funding to include in-clude Davis and Box Elder counties to begin be-gin July 1, but this was not approved. "NOW WE need a committment from Davis County and any others that might be interested, and we will go to the state legislature legisl-ature and ask for more money based on additional needs," said Mr. Christensen. He advised the commission that the county can option to join the state program only once in a year. Davis County could apply this year and probably be included in the program next year, it was explained. "IF THE state legislature approves more money next January, Davis County, if it formally applies, could probably be included in-cluded as early as next January or February," Febru-ary," he said. Meanwhile, the commission would have to budget for indigent care next year and then be included in the state program as soon as funds become available, Mr. Christensen concluded. The commission is expected to take action on this soon. |