PORTSMOUTH — Five health-care professionals gathered Wednesday to discuss how President Obama’s new economic stimulus package may impact health-care services across the Seacoast.
Reviews were mixed, but panelist William J. Schuler, president/CEO of Portsmouth Regional Hospital, is among the skeptics of the stimulus’s potential benefits. “I’d love to say the stimulus plan is going to help us,” Schuler said, “but from a Medicare point of view in the state, it’s going to hurt us.” Leadership Seacoast, a regional civil leadership development program, held its fourth LS Offers alumni development event on Feb. 18 at the Community Campus. The discussion was moderated by Jennifer Wheeler, executive director of Leadership Seacoast and a public health professional. Schuler said he was forced to make more than $1 million in budget cuts. “I’m concerned,” he said. “Jobs and wages are frozen. The largest single business in the state is being squeezed, not stimulated.” Mark Whitney, vice president of Exeter Health Resources, said health-care organizations traditionally drive economies out of a recession with every dollar spent by health care. According to the new stimulus package, for every dollar spent it will be federally matched by $1.70. “We need to keep spending dollars so we can access this money,” he said.
Whitney said he is also concerned about the recent shift to charity-funded health care.