[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 18001]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 18001]]

TRIBUTE TO LABOR AND MANAGEMENT IN WEST VIRGINIA: FOR WORKING TOGETHER 
                  IN A COMMON CAUSE TO SAVE A HOSPITAL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 13, 2000

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to West Virginia's labor 
and management team who have come together to help save a struggling 
hospital in Man, West Virginia, forced to close in June 2000 due in 
large part to Congressional cuts in Medicare reimbursements to 
hospitals. I salute the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and the 
Arch Coal Company for setting an example for labor and management 
teamwork to save a hospital.
  As we all are deeply aware, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997--or BBA97 
in its short form--caused draconian cuts in Medicare reimbursements to 
health care providers across this country--hospitals, home health 
agencies, skilled nursing homes, and physical therapy programs.
  I voted against the BBA97 because I knew first, you cannot cut 
providers without cutting services to seniors, and secondly, you should 
never vote for projected cuts of $115 billion in Medicare, period. That 
projected cut of $115 billion has today risen to $227 billion, with two 
more years to go of planned cuts under BBA97.
  Congress in passing the BBA97 rhetorically assured the American 
people that they were ``only'' cutting providers--not services to 
seniors who rely upon Medicare for all their health care needs. I knew 
then, and Congress knows now, that services were reduced to seniors, 
and that access to health care was denied to hundreds of thousands of 
patients.
  In the interim, these past 3 years have seen hospitals, skilled 
nursing homes and home health agencies closing their doors in record 
numbers, leaving vulnerable elderly patients without local access to 
health care of any kind. The safety net that used to be in place is 
gone. Put bluntly, it is only now that Congress pretends it has just 
been made aware that 2 years of balancing the budget on the backs of 
senior citizens has caused hospitals to bleed nearly to death 
financially. New estimates this year show that the bleeding has turned 
into a hemorrhage.
  In West Virginia, the Appalachian Regional Hospital at Man, West 
Virginia in Logan County has been closed since June 30, 2000. Coupled 
with losses of upwards of $5 million over the past several years, most 
of which can be attributed to the loss of Medicare reimbursement to 
hospitals taken away by the BBA97, the hospital could no longer 
continue to serve the citizens of Logan County, and citizens from 
surrounding counties as well.
  But also In West Virginia, the Arch Coal Company and the United Mine 
Workers Union (UMWA) have chipped in with funding to help reopen the 
Man ARH hospital, lifting the community over its fund-raising goal.
  In 1956, the Man Hospital was one in a chain of hospitals built by 
the United Mine Workers Health and Retirement funds. These hospitals 
were built in southern West Virginia, southwestern Virgnia, and Eastern 
Kentucky where other health care was not available to coal miners. 
While the Logan County economy has diversified to also include business 
men, women and their families, it is still an access hospital for coal 
miners, their surviving wives and children.
  Losing the hospital would affect the delivery of health care to 
thousands of people, and much of that care goes to those without any 
health insurance, known as uncompensated care, and a majority of the 
users of the hospital are senior citizens on Medicare. As noted above, 
it was the loss of the Medicare reimbursements that became the final 
blow that caused the Man ARH Hospital to close it doors.
  Today I commend the United Mine Workers of West Virginia, and the 
officials of Arch Coal Company, for caring enough about the people 
served by the Man ARH Hospital to contribute to its reopening and its 
future service to the people of Logan County and beyond.
  But more, Mr. Speaker, in these times of fiscal hemorrhaging by 
hospitals in the coalfields of West Virginia and the nation, I pay 
tribute to labor and management coming together to help people help 
themselves, without a single negotiating session at the bargaining 
table.
  In West Virginia, the United Mine Workers Union and the Arch Coal 
Company just stepped up to the plate and got the job done.

                          ____________________