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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 27, 1992                   TAG: 9201280157
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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PUBLIC SHOULD BACK HOSPITALS TAX

GOV. WILDER should go to the public for support of his recommended tax on hospitals, nursing homes and doctors. I am sure he will get their support. The above are "sacred cows," and unless the public puts a lot of pressure on the General Assembly, this tax will fall by the wayside.

Medical lobbies will be crying, promising, pleading to eliminate the tax or pass it on to the public. However, this can be avoided if the public gets behind the tax. These interests would hardly feel the tax on their profits. (Some very small rural hospitals, etc., might get hurt, but exceptions could be made.)

Medicaid's cost increase is mandated. But one way or another, the providers get it back through payments from the federal and/or state governments.

When malpractice insurance came into being, most of the medical profession passed anywhere from 10 to 40 percent of this on to their patients. In 1991, malpractice premiums dropped 27 percent due to action by the attorney general's office, but not one penny of the increase to the public was dropped.

Hospitals generally make at least 5 percent profit and reinvest this money in other lucrative ways. They hold fund-raising drives; they get gifts from foundations and individuals. People donate beds. Thousands of volunteer hours are given by organizations. So why shouldn't hospitals and others also have to "bite the bullet"? GEORGE M. SPINNETT HENRY

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