Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Survey shows support for tax to aid UMC

About seven of every 10 Clark County voters would support a payroll tax on medium and large businesses that do not provide their employees health insurance to fund health care for the uninsured, a new survey says.

The survey, funded by Las Vegans for Affordable Health Care, a nonprofit group that has opposed cuts at the financial ailing University Medical Center, were presented Tuesday to the UMC Task Force, which is coming up with recommendations on how to get and keep the public hospital in the black.

The poll, which queried 400 registered Clark County voters between May 9 and 12, found 68 percent of respondents favored such a payroll tax. It also found a high level of concern for UMC's financial woes, with keeping UMC open and with access to health care for the uninsured.

"That is a large number," said David Binder, pollster and owner of San Francisco-based public opinion firm David Binder Research, told the task force. "Very seldom do you find a majority to support a tax increase."

Interestingly, the survey also showed that 68 percent of respondents had health insurance either privately or through their jobs.

"It is interesting that so many of those surveyed had insurance yet had this level of concern" for those who do not have insurance, UMC Task Force member Bobbette Bond said.

UMC has the final responsibility of treating the uninsured. The survey found that 72 percent support the idea of requiring private hospitals to treat a greater share of the uninsured, reducing the burden on UMC.

Las Vegans for Affordable Health Care, which paid $10,000 to $20,000 for the survey, also will present the survey findings to the 2005 Legislature.

"We had this survey done because we want the issue of the uninsured dealt with on local and state levels and we wanted to know what the level of concern was among people," Ben Contine, the group's chairman, said. "It shows people are extremely concerned and that they support solutions."

The poll was conducted about the time the task force was appointed and long before the second special session of the Legislature, where a law was hastily drawn -- and passed -- to impose a 2 percent payroll tax on financial institutions and a 0.7 percent tax on other businesses to fund $836 million in new taxes.

Despite the recent precedent, Clark County Manager Thom Reilly, a member of the UMC Task Force, said the county could only implement the plan as a business license tax. A payroll tax specific to Clark County would have to go before the Legislature if, for nothing else, to assure consistency throughout Southern Nevada, he said.

"If it weren't addressed statewide, we could only enforce it in unincorporated Clark County, unless the municipalities passed similar measures," Reilly said.

Both Reilly and Contine noted that state lawmakers at the last session approved exemptions of a portion of the payroll tax for employers who offer health insurance. While that is an incentive to provide insurance, the survey suggests penalizing those who do not pay for the benefit.

Binder, outside the meeting, said the survey was designed to determine the level of concern for health care issues and UMC, not zero in on answers to the problems.

"You cannot get too specific and ask a lot of questions in great detail because people get bored," said Binder, who has 18 years' experience in quantitative research. "These are conceptual ideas, not solutions.

"Tax-related questions in these type of surveys generally come back about 50-50. When it comes out two-thirds to one-third, you have a surprising finding. This survey shows there is a very high level of awareness for UMC and for people without health insurance in Clark County."

Among other findings of the survey:

-- 83 percent said UMC's trauma center alone is an important reason to keep the hospital open.

-- 80 percent said UMC's burn unit is an important reason to keep the hospital open.

-- 77 percent said it was important to keep UMC open because it is the "hospital of last resort" for people without health insurance.

-- 53 percent opposed a private company taking over UMC for fear that for-profit management would not provide care for the uninsured.

-- 43 percent said UMC provides good care, while 13 percent said the level of treatment is poor.

-- 25 percent said either themselves or family members had been treated at UMC or one of its satellite clinics within the prior 12 months.

The random survey queried only those who were registered to vote in Clark County and had voted in at least one election since November 2000.

The survey had a 4.9 percent margin of error, which Binder said is average for county-level polling. National polls, he said, generally have lower margins of error because there is a larger pool from which to survey.

The study comes on the heels of figures released late last month that show net operating losses at UMC continued to decline, dipping below the $1 million mark in June for the first time in more than a year.

June's net losses dropped to $714,000, down from a high of $3.78 million in February. It was the first dip below $1 million since May 2002, when $870,000 in losses were recorded. The last time UMC posted a profit was January 2001, when $3 million was earned, the hospital said.

An analysis by The Lewin Group, presented to the County Commission in March, showed that UMC faces challenges from a number of circumstances beyond UMC's control, including higher indigent patient loads, medical malpractice and the loss of paying patients to outlying private hospitals.

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