OCR Text |
Show Medical Care Shifts from County And Community to State, Report Reveals Major responsibility for providing provid-ing medical care to persons unable un-able to pay for such treatment has been shifting from the county coun-ty and local community to the state in recent years. This was one of the conclusions conclu-sions reached in a study of medical medi-cal care policies in Utah Just completed by Utah Foundation, the private governmental research re-search agency. According to the Foundation reftt, medical care outlay by the State Welfare Department in Utah has increased from approximately approx-imately $200,000 in 1957 to more than $G.3 million in 1963. The 1963 medical care expenditure was equal to 21rl of total welfare wel-fare expenditures and Is greater than the outlay for either old age bssistance or general assistance. assist-ance. Only the aid to families I with dependent children program now exceeds the medical care program in cost. The study points out that Utah currently operates two medical care programs for aged persons one for individuals receiving old age assistance and the other under the less restrictive Kerr-Mills Kerr-Mills Act for persons not on the old age assistance rolls. Utah is one of 30 states (plus three territories ter-ritories and the District of Columbia) Co-lumbia) that provide a medical care program for aged persons under the provisions of the Kerr-Mills Kerr-Mills Act of 1960. Because of a quirk in the Federal Fed-eral Law, Utah has been able to receive what amounts to double Federal matching on some nursing nurs-ing home cases. The Foundation report observes that there were 1,260 such cases for which Utah received Federal aid undtr two sep irate categories of public assistance as-sistance in November, 1963. This double Federal matching has reduced re-duced state outlays required for many of these high-cost nursing home cases. Later this year the new University Uni-versity of Utah Medical Center will open to the public. This facility fa-cility will be operated as a teaching hospital and research center for the U. of U. Medical School. Foundation analysts poinl out that successful operation oi this new facility as a first class teaching hospital will depend upon an adequate supply of in dlgent patients. The report sug gests that review of present Welfare Wel-fare Department medical care policies, particularly with reference refer-ence to the department's relationship rela-tionship to this new hospital, is essential if the facilities of the new medical center are to be effectively ef-fectively utilized. At the same time, the Foundation report observes ob-serves that welfare officials have a responsibility to obtain necessary nec-essary medical care for recipients at the least cost to the State. |