I know many people have worked hard on developing and advocating for Proposition 1. I’m also aware that opposing what we call health care gets you labeled as a jerk, or perhaps worse, uncaring about our elders. So with some hesitancy, and at the risk of sounding like a jerk, I would like to put forth a different perspective for my hometown.
Everyone knows we have a broken health care system. So why are we considering dumping another $38.5 million into it? I urge that we pump the breaks on this hefty bond, and go back to the drawing board to specifically fund only the critically necessary hospital maintenance.
Supporters of Prop 1 tell us that the cost of the bond property will only go up if we don’t buy it now. In reality, we’ve already negotiated to buy it at the future value 25 years down the road. That value is highly debatable. There is only one feasible buyer, and no one actually knows if it’s ever going to be more expensive. Things do go down ya know.
Next is the expansion of infrastructure. The idea that spending $38.5 million now will save money and create a lasting infrastructure for future generations is, unfortunately, backward. What it does do, is create an even bigger infrastructure for future Homer generations to maintain. Look around town. SPH signage is on more and more buildings every year. It is the future generations that will pay for the services our current elders want locally now. If you look nationwide, there is simply not another sizable crop of people graduating into the well insured, financially liquid, and geographically mobile demographic to move into Homer’s service area after this wave of boomers passes.
Who has determined that our young people are instinctively supportive of this level of spending on hospital expansion? Some are, but many are clearly not. Young adults can barely afford buying homes, having children, and paying off student loan debts. The game has changed, and our average income and individual wealth projections do not support spending like this. In the last week many people of all ages have told me that they have compassion for anyone who needs health care. But they didn’t create the current expensive health care system, nor do they feel responsible for the cost of a growing, aging population.
This proposition is figuratively asking for younger, working-age residents to throw down their credit cards so the elderly can have expanded services that the younger generation is unconvinced that they need at this price.
And lastly, let’s look at the trend of how money is being spent in health care. Percentage wise, growth of administrative costs have vastly outpaced the growth of spending on patient services. With an expanded infrastructure, we are positioning ourselves to spend more and more public money on nonpatient services, which begs this question: At what point do we support health care, but realize we are doing so in a non-sustainable fashion? Some of us have great health insurance. Some do not. A great many of them are your children and their children. Let’s not saddle them with community health care debt while we can’t seem to afford to fund the critically necessary maintenance of their schools.
Ivan Heimbuch is third-generation Alaskan and a Homer resident, born and raised. After 15 years working in construction and as a commercial fisherman both in and out of state, he now owns and operates a business specializing in local, year-round leather goods production supported by seasonal retail on the Spit.
