Activists protest Grady hospital proposal

Health care activists on Monday attacked the Grady Memorial Hospital proposal to increase medical costs to some uninsured patients, saying hospital leaders were being insensitive to poor people.

The plan would effectively shut needy people out of care at a hospital that they depend on as a health center of last resort, said several people who spoke at the Grady board meeting.

“I don’t expect this hospital to be nickle-and-diming poor people. I’m disgusted,” said Dr. Sam Newcom, a former Grady doctor. He was among about 10 speakers at the meeting, all critical of the plan.

Another speaker was the Rev. Timothy McDonald, co-chair of the patient-rights group the Grady Coalition.

“People who are losing jobs are also losing health care. In Fulton and DeKalb, where else are they going to go?” McDonald said.

Grady officials set off a storm of controversy when they recently aired proposals that could eliminate free care to some patients. Stressing that the hospital remains millions in debt, Grady CEO Michael Young said the hospital wants “to make sure that people who can afford to pay something will pay something.” It will not deny care to those in need, he said.

Grady Coalition members took it as a minor victory that the full Grady board decided not even to discuss the matter Monday. The plan had been talked about at the board’s finance committee meeting earlier that day. Members wanted more information before the proposal was presented to the full board, said board chair Pete Correll.

During the finance committee meeting, officials said the proposal could generate $2.5 million a year for financially strapped Grady.

Correll said the board was looking for “consensus with this community” on handling the plan.

Some people receiving free care, Young said, have been abusing the system, and others have the finances to pay at least part of their bill. Some people hide the fact that they have insurance.

Right now, a Fulton or DeKalb county patient who earns less than $26,000 a year — or 250 percent or less of the federal poverty guidelines — can receive free medical care. Patients outside those counties in similar financial condition pay 30 percent of their bill.

Under the plan, Fulton and DeKalb patients who earn between 126 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines can receive a 60 percent discount on their bill. Patients from other counties, with similar finances, can receive a 30 percent discount on their bill.

In addition, a Fulton or DeKalb resident earning less than $13,000 a year — or 125 percent or less of the poverty guidelines — would continue to receive free care. Those in other counties would receive a 50 percent discount.