Last week this newspaper shared information about an issue facing our local hospital system that was scary.
On Tuesday, November 4 the Baxley/Appling County Hospital Authority met with and asked the Appling County Commissioners for a $1.3 million dollar loan to satisfy outstanding payroll taxes that were owed by the system. The commissioners agreed to loan the system the money on a short-term basis. Of course this decision to loan the money to the system did not come without certain stipulations, and rightfully so.
One of the stipulations in the Intergovernmental Agreement between the two entities is that at least two commissioners and the county manager will now be ex-officio members of the hospital authority. As a result of this stipulation, it’s the opinion of this newspaper that better communication lines will now be achieved between the commissioners and the authority and this in turn should help keep situations like this from happening again.
The News-Banner would also like to thank the commissioners and the authority for the open and honest dialogue at the meeting on January 4. It was refreshing to see and hear many questions get answered in the open meeting. Let’s hope this trend continues.
1.There is no one in Baxley who provides the treatment,
2.The provider in Baxley is not covered by my "wonderful" health insurance, or
3.The provider that IS located in Baxley that IS covered by my health insurance has a shady reputation and I refuse to risk my health for the slight possibility he/she doesn't mess up.