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Show 2 Vernal ExprtH Wednesday, August 1, 1990 r nnnrj By Jock Wallis rl I M i L 1 1 M I I il l I Pi I II "I I Hospitalization Costs Anyone who has been a patient in a hospital recently has probably been shocked at the cost of medical care. According to Utah Hospital Association President Kenneth H. Rock, "It's not surprising that the public really doesn't understand the complexities of health care. But it is also understandably frustrating to those of us in the health care industry, as well. We see a growing irony in our society because everyone wants our current high level of care standards, but few are willing to pay for it." Hospitals are one of a community's most expensive operations. They operate 24-hours-per-day, 365-days-a-year. They must meet strict fire and safety requirements. require-ments. They must maintain a trained and skilled staff to operate sophisticated equipment at all times. There is a constant shortage of trained nurses and technologists technolo-gists and employee burnout is common as the strain of daily crises takes its toll. Utah hospitals absorb over $200 million annually from unpaid care or uncollectible bills. Currently, Utah hospitals are repaid less than 70 cents on the dollar for Medicare patient care charges. As hospitals have been forced to absorb more of the responsibility for those who cannot pay they have been forced to add to the costs of those who can pay. According to the hospital officials, elected officials promise continued services but fail to provide the funding. Several bills passed by the Utah Legislature have added to the cost of hospital service. Pricing all services ser-vices and detailed bills have added to the paper work expense of hospitals. Also deregulating the construction construc-tion of new hospitals has made nossihle the too many specialty hospitals. . In stressing the financial problems faced by not only Utah hospitals, but hospitals all over the nation, the Utah Hospital president said, "If the public and our state leaders don't face the dilemma of today's and tomorrow's to-morrow's health care needs, rationing of services and denial of care will become the rule rather than the exception. There is no such thing as "free" health careeither we pay higher taxes to support those who can't pay, or we pay higher medical bills because the government won't." Utah hospital officials project that the state will need an estimated $6 million to cover the increased Medicaid eligible patient care population by the year 1994, with an additional $9.5 million needed to cover annual inflationary increases in Medicaid reimbursement, reimburse-ment, as well. They see a total projected need of $70 million to cover the growing numbers of indigent Utahns. Sen. Orrin Hatch is backing a bill that would help hospitals cope with the rising costs of malpractice suits and over testing. The bill would place a cap on certain medical suits. Hospitals have come from a cottage industry run by volunteers with no other purpose than to care for the sick and aid the infirm to the complete health care centers cen-ters we see today that employ hundreds of people. But the big concern among hospital officials is how will all the changes be accepted by public officials and those who pay the bills. Will the future require rationing ra-tioning or denial of needed services or will the government gov-ernment step in and subsidize the industry? What is the responsibility of the public to take care of those who cannot pay and need hospital care? - These are questions that will take some soul-searching study for answers to the problem of providing individual indi-vidual hospital care for everyone when the need arises. PUBLIC FORUM Letters to the Editor What is your opinion? The Express welcomes letters from its readers concerning any subject pertinent to the Uintah Basin. There are no restrictions as to contents, if not libelous or vindictive. Letters will not be accepted over two (2) typed written double spaced pages. Letters must be submitted exclusively to the Express and bear the writer's full name, signature, phone number and address. The name or names of those submitting letters must appear on all published letters. All letters are subject to condensation. Letters to the Editor express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily the opinion of the vernal Express or its staff. The facts Dear Editor Because of an irresponsible remark re-mark made at a school board mcct-ing mcct-ing the integrity of our supcrintcn-' supcrintcn-' dent has been questioned. Then a patron at the meeting printed the remark re-mark in the paper without checking out if the statement was true or not! Well, I decided to check it out, and sec if the Superintendent really did spend $120.00 on one meal. I found out the money spent was not $120.00 but $110.00 and that it was not for one meal but for money spent on meals for six different trips to Salt Lake and I Icbcr. Three of the trips he had to slay over night. The facts were easily obtained by calling the school board office. Anyone can do it and should before believing everything that is written in the paper. I hope in the future those considering consid-ering writing letters to the editor will get the facts instead of printing hearsay. AmU'ONfi.SNOW Vernal Express And 1 54 No, Vcrn.il Ave. 703-3511 Serving tho Uintah Basin slnco 1891 Charlof Momber o( lh Vernal Aea Ch.irr.bof of Commerce is k -k -k k kc k Vernal Express (iSiHCBtt-ICM) f.A wy VVcino !ar ( pot faat lh B4 -4 I .-5 t out ot fM jura w?m rata tr4 Vt yof rtn 1A H VsaJ f ti-eM vi cm4 f trr.i r,3. r a IM r. Wwi, jo n v vi . .. , pa - -vrn a jt TV') 4 W. or OfyM,( I ( u Job well done Due to some business scheduling my wife and I were in Vernal July 24th. I must admit that to begin with we were a bit out of patience with delays because many businesses and Vernal area people were caught up in the celebration of your Pioneer Days. As we began picking up bits and pieces of information about the Mormon Pioneers entering and settling set-tling Utah, and because of our natural natu-ral interest in history, we soon gained a real appreciation for what your small town was doing to remember re-member this significant event. We took in the breakfast, parade and rodeo and became caught up in the spirit of the occasion ourselves though we realize probably all involved in-volved were not Mormons. We were really impressed to find out all the money made was to support the Boy Scouts. Wc wish to commend those responsible re-sponsible for the family style rodeo. Wc have attended rodeos in several small communities but never have wc seen so much enthusiasm exhibited exhib-ited by those young folks chasing chickens, rabbits, etc. Wc were also very impressed with the quality and professionalism with which the rodeo was run and the quality of livestixk. Though most everything wc saw and fell left us inspired and more interested in-terested in finding out mute about Mormon history and people wc did have to wonder, in all candor, aNuit one primp of young ladies that marched in your parade as they seemed to be so tml (if pt.icc and U..H.L ter for the occaMn who were dicvved in some lpc f light fitting uniforms. Wc cotii:t,i;ut,itc you tin the new facilities wc ww and had ciUned to us ih.il are bong hull fevl lo yoiir fulfil arrru, Ve hpe l omc-Liy omc-Liy W bxk when !- new PhiIi-tiet PhiIi-tiet a.-c tt'ii'j lrtr,I an ! m e ,- Oi:f ticwly fcijiiiicJ to U')' h.iu P'l eff to )-r lonuiuinity an. o a'! lh:t who nurt h,)r wivlrd vi h-itj ti ptuluic a'l e i,rv an.J tn- vrd. IhrM. h;f( rf t'.mn ,itc h,it (lir true p" 'f AmrtK.wi-.m a!) aNuit.. PICK AM) I Pllll JUM S 5 f-rrnt.i, f!.f. prvM ;."3 3'11 f AX ?3 lAcfr r ' r-c-et Ihw ttrr lri$ Wal-Mart.... Continued from page 1 to compete with Wal-Mart. This creates a negative image of the independent in-dependent retailer in the customer's eyes. He said engaging in a price war with such a large competitor is virtually impossible because Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is so large, they will consistently consis-tently have very low prices. If merchants mer-chants do wish to slash prices, however, how-ever, it is important to do so before Wal-Mart opens, so that they are establishing es-tablishing a positive image cus-' cus-' tomcrs will remember when Wal-Mart Wal-Mart docs arrive. Another tactic, Taylor suggested, is carefully monitoring expenses now to save for remodeling, increasing inventory, advertising and paying off debts. Because customers will be "having a honeymoon with Wal-Mart" Wal-Mart" for the first few months the store is open, finances will be tight for local businesses until they win back customers. Having a clean, attractive at-tractive building is important He said Paying employees and local bills first will help independent retailers re-tailers sustain a posiuve image witn the public. Taylor said local businesses must create "niches" they fill that Wal-Mart Wal-Mart doesn't By carrying reasonably reason-ably priced quality merchandise in different brand names, customers have a reason to shop someplace besides be-sides the large discount store. Another niche might be outstanding customer service. He said local stores should have a clearly defined idea of what market they arc selling to and then aim advertising, decor of the building, etc. to Fit those people, peo-ple, lie also said businesses would ixrnefit from emphasizing to Customers Cus-tomers what the store can do for them instead of what they aren't allowed al-lowed to do in Uic store, such as smoke. He suggested a liberal return policy as a positive thing customers would remember, especially since W.il M.ui has a generous policy. Taylor said many independent retailers re-tailers have "put themselves wit v( business because they couldn't nd.tpl ami make the change nfecs-s,y nfecs-s,y or they couldn't live with the changes Ihcy h.nl made The tcKe (op priorities erne mem!r if the Itiutj tf threiiitft at W! M.ut Mil suilv I" (tie 1 5 any ft Unlet t.nl ir-e: II base cn;!uisia.!ic ka lff-hp, lff-hp, 2) sX questions ?) the ujs ti'Mirr n e, 4) seek am) M!vc em-pl" em-pl" re ,i'inin xh r, ? get f !? ; !" re? invuKrd. f) keep U-a.-r.sn. 7) lii.imt.f icn'.'vliiiit-,( S) ft-ii-.nit.f n hr.me'.-., J) fnoniti Klf, If) Inc wi:!..n yiif mrAn, II) d"i"l aae t;nic, 2) tiippott nimnnintty Ju.t (!.,-;e arc pi '-iiae h-.rg ia'i P." d.-ne, ihrre arc a'-'t rw M m f i ? V- IMS News items Call Vernal Express 789-3511 ( 1 ' t M 1 I,'-.: t 1) v, r. 4 p-5'H . 2 i!i r-'( f zii-z i-i a ptj.c n. t .r ' f ir.rr:-. rv. 5 1 f! 1 n -4 c t'.r nr.:. - rf f f t', () ' r.- J. t i t- p : h: -r.;. If 1! r. I 1 '' ;i i -1 I t .:. V ; " V w- : mw-mriwn-nii ii Public Criticism Dear Editor: It is sometimes amusing as well as interesting to listen to some of the chatter that is bandied about from certain circles in our community. For instance, hardly a controversy arises over some pressing problem 01 local government, but we witness a certain element of our community who wring their hands and deplore the fact that many "upright citizens are dissuaded from seeking public office primarily because of the harsh criticism that is leveled at public officials for performance of their duties." Of course, there is a certain pretentious snobbery associated associ-ated with this observation, for it is inevitably uttered by a certain little clique in our community who feel that "they" and only "they" arc the people entitled to be considered when public policy matters arc to be considered. In rebuttal it needs to be said most emphatically that a public official who is not willing to withstand criticism crit-icism isn't worth a "wooden nickel" as an office holder anyway. When one reflects about it, nothing worth while has ever transpired in this land or no event of any significance been achieved but there have been heated discussion over the same. The Federalist papers would not have come forth had there not been heated debate over the adoption of the Consutution at its inception. Would Abraham Lincoln have emerged as a leader during the Civil War were it not for the heated Lincoln-Douglas debates? Paradoxically, the opposite is true. School Board... Continuod frompaga 1 "that employment as teacher and office of-fice as member of the board of trustees of the school district arc incompatible in-compatible w ithin the meaning and intent of the commondaw rule." If a teacher wIki runs for the school bo.ird was elected and sought to maintain both posiiion, the second position (sthixil board) and not the first (svhoul teacher) would be lost where the sJio leaJtcr was under contract and not legally free to abanilon his first pi. Miion, contends Masking v. Sure. Mecharn said le believes the only conflict he sees in being a tether ami a mcmlK-t of the Uintah School Hoard would be in selling te.vhrn Salaries. There arc edtuaunt on Mate boards, Uwycrt on legal board's, there art so many conflicts of inter' ct on the state level, it ouM im-favd im-favd if Ihcy were eliminated, Mecham wid. It is iniena:ri that i! e Uintah 1 dm-mmi A relation will M:ppeit Mecharn in hi punuit of a p,-.iurj rn lhcbvr lof t'.lKXw. '"It ju-.l ha r rveri divuv..fd Mi l V. a .r t:-..-n, Ul A r--... 5 .,, fleet. Vernal Ci'y Anncy tty y,r(c m I he t-j-tni. n fit the a'-H-wr g-rvral's pfTke- will r'S p'rrnt ?.!. (fi,lP1 fr,n Srirg t,-.-,J f ti filvlfd. pe".i;iefl rj'i have fi fif f " '- I I T - 5 ("mv ,riT(j S:ef!r rr ; tr::r. p-e ff -te fn'- -e A:t.ry i w 1 bti'i-l v . ... : & - AV 4 SMOKE billows from tho air ventilating system, but the source of the electrical fire at Ashley Valley Medical was not easily located lo-cated by Vernal CityUintah County firemen The problems of our community have not resulted from a Lick of open public discussion of public issues, is-sues, but rather from the lack of such discussion and from attempts to cover-up, to muffle, and to throttle throt-tle the discussion of .such issues. Moreover, die lone is noted in the glibncss with which our local media presents the pompous and shallow murmurings of certain meintx-is (if the establishment in this community. communi-ty. Thus, unless there is an awakening awaken-ing and a belter articulation of issues is-sues involving the local government we will wallow in its own inefficiencies ineffi-ciencies primarily for the reason that our public officials will adopt ihc presumptuous attitude that ihcy no longer need to answ er to the citizens citi-zens for their official acts. ALMNC.NASII THE VOICE OF BUSINESS CURHLNG IIEALIIIjCAIUSjCQ US Cb-imhtt mf Cpvtni WASHINGTON The pmtriionicihre of which li done In CfiU hra!;h tAiB in the I'm country. United Suiri it jiunng Of oure, t tpUimng the ftAwi motf thn TO prntni prf to 4 Fkm m4 mkc l 50 ay. )CAT,tU, srg wxci9 Hrairt CkAity, U.;U fsi tostj arc put of S unn mii'(,t, i,Md. . 9 9 ' 9 " I " ' ' f 'I " tt NIH ll If f ! g, tsfganujukmi. r..J poninj 4 rty rraj Whie.)rnrfJiitoi,nrti iJuxal Id the Ktwv.aii tiuiiiy ft th natiimaj tv4!;.h tart! jjsiem Of umj'I M)0 rmU e pnrim (( fr,lrral furtdin; UnMimaSfiy, ihii divnj tsi r' t fo UV.ft sxtt. 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