JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UF Health Jacksonville is at risk of having to close its doors if lawmakers don't act fast to support funding for the facility, the hospital's CEO Russell Armistead said.
UF Health is facing a $95 million budget shortfall, Armistead said.
By law, UF Health cannot turn away any patients who come to the emergency room, even if they are uninsured, and those medical bills are piling up.
"I go there every time I get sick," UF Health patient Ramon Figueroa said.
Figueroa said he can't afford to pay for health insurance.
"I live on a fixed income and I can't contribute to it because all I get is my Social Security check," Figueroa said.
Armistead said the hospital gets $95 million a year from the low-income pool fund known as LIP.
The LIP money mostly comes from federal dollars and helps pay for people without health insurance, but that money is at risk if state legislators don't come up with a compromise on how to fund health care in the state.
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"If they don't figure out how to provide those funds, yeah, I'll close," Armistead said. "I would ask our legislators to figure out how they can live with some kind of compromise that keeps us open."
Armistead urged the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to help secure those funds.
Armistead said if UF Health had to close, it would have a devastating effect on Jacksonville.
Armistead said the hospital serves around 1.2 million outpatients a year, receives more than 90,000 emergency room visits and employs more than 5,000 people, making it the sixth largest employer in Jacksonville.
"It's not like it would just be a blip," Armistead said. "It would be a severe loss of jobs, because other hospitals would have to downsize. It's a pretty ugly scenario. It's very uncomfortable for our employees, for our physicians, people who are providing care."
Armistead said another part of the problem is that the hospital does not have a local city tax to help cover its expenses as some other parts of Florida offer.
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