One Mistake, Then Another

The Prince George's County Council needlessly postpones a remedy for the county's health system.

FOR THE Prince George's County Council, one mistake begets another. First, it played chicken with the future of the county's destitute health-care network by refusing at the eleventh hour to approve a state-sponsored bailout plan for Dimensions Healthcare System, which runs Prince George's Hospital Center and several other large facilities. Then, realizing it faced a popular insurrection if it allowed the three hospitals and two nursing homes to close because of its recklessness, the council decided to fork over the money on its own to keep the system afloat for another 15 months -- but without the benefit of any long-term financial partnership with the state.

The result: The county is on the hook for a stopgap measure that will cost taxpayers $25 million to $35 million by the summer of 2008 but will neither address the system's long-neglected equipment and facility needs nor, in all likelihood, set it on a path toward long-term solvency.

Wait, it gets worse. By spurning the state's offer of a rescue package this year -- a package that County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D) supported, to his credit -- the council has damaged the health-care system's prospects in other ways. For one thing, it has left a residue of ill will with state lawmakers that may make assistance from Annapolis a harder sell. For another, by thrusting the hospital system's needs into the mix for next year's state legislative session, when the governor and legislators are expected to grapple with a deficit of $1.5 billion, the council has picked what is likely to be the worst funding environment possible. If the council thought it was tough to get a fair deal from the state this year -- and make no mistake, it had one -- just wait till 2008.

Off the table are a $329 million state-backed package, $90 million in capital investments pumped into the system over the next three years and a long-term strategy to save the system. The county may be able to extract concessions from the hospital employees union on the pension plan, and it may be able to squeeze some cost savings from Dimensions. But all that will come at a likely price of even more Prince George's residents seeking health care outside the county; already, the upheaval of the past few months has led increasing numbers of patients, particularly paying ones, to flee to other jurisdictions.

By kicking the can down the road, the council has comp ounded its original error in killing a workable deal to save the hospitals. Prince George's isn't broke; there is money in the county's rainy-day fund, and county officials will surely be able to make $25 million or $35 million materialize from their $1 billion non-schools budget. But on an issue of overriding and central importance to tens of thousands of county residents, the council abdicated its responsibility to fix a problem that badly needed fixing.