My Visit to Monroe County: Addressing Our Rural Healthcare Challenges in GA-08
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting Monroe County. I visited the Whistle Stop Cafe, where I interacted with future civic leaders that are part of Leadership Monroe, and toured Monroe County Hospital, a 25 bed facility that is the primary emergency care provider for the area. This hospital is essential to the future of Monroe County, and provides life saving and critical medical care services to everyone in the Monroe County region. Like many other rural hospitals in Georgia, it is struggling because of inability to get payments for care that fund their operations on time, and a high proportion of their services being rendered to those who are uninsured.
Their new partnership with Navicent Health has put Monroe County hospital back on a sustainable path, but inefficiencies in government and a failure of imagination among our government leaders is still damaging the ability of this hospital to expand operations and hire more nursing and care staff.
The hospital leadership highlighted to me issues with VA payments, collecting payments from private insurance, and the challenges of red tape that hospitals are facing. Monroe County Hospital has been unable to make significant improvements in their facility since the 1970’s. This is another clear sign that we need a real voice in Congress that will fight for the well being of our communities, our hospitals, and all of our residents. While the politicians in Washington bicker about healthcare, its our care providers, and patients that suffer the consequences. I’m my own man, and I look forward to working with local hospitals and care providers to provide real leadership on healthcare.
For more on Fred Swann and his Democratic campaign for Georgia’s 8th Congressional District please visit swannforga.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook and click to donate.
