DENVER (KDVR) — FOX31 is Your Local Election Headquarters. There is a little more than two weeks left until Election Day. Denver voters will have 12 questions on their city ballot.
Two of them look to increase sales taxes in the City of Denver, one of which would help fund Denver Health.
Will Denver voters approve another sales tax increase?
Denver Health's CEO is hoping voters will say 'yes' and help the hospital avoid making some tough decisions.
"Healthcare costs have gone up quite a bit as you can imagine since 1996. Our funding from the city has been stagnant," said Denver Health CEO and ColoradoFormer Lieutenant Governor Donna Lynne.
Lynne said the hospital needs more funding to continue helping people throughout the region.
"We've seen an increase in the number of uninsured patients in Denver and Colorado over the last five years the city, which we used to be a part of and has supported Denver Health for some of this uncompensated care since 1996 but the amount hasn't increased," said Lynne.
Denver Health is a safety net hospital, meaning they provide healthcare for people regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. Lynne said other safety net hospitals across the nation get about 11 percent of their funding from local government while Denver Health only gets about two percent from the city.
The proposal to bring the question made it to the ballot by a vote of 12 to 1 in City Council and no one has formally registered to oppose the question. If passed, customers would pay an extra 3.4 cents on every $10 purchase in Denver. Lynne hopes voters are willing to pay a little more to help the system deliver care.
"Food, medications, and fuel are exempt. At any moment, you could need Denver Health. You have a heart attack, our ambulances come and pick you up, they take you to any hospital. But because we are the only level-one trauma center in the City and County of Denver, we take care of a lot of very acute needs," said Lynne.
If passed, an estimated $70 million a year would go towards helping areas like primary care, pediatric care, emergency and trauma care, substance use and behavioral health.
"If we don't get this, we will be forced to make some reductions in services. We've kind of held things together with Scotch tape over many, many years and ridden some rollercoasters but at this point in order to get better, we are going to need to reduce services if this ballot initiative doesn't pass," Lynne said. "A lot of people think of us as the main campus which is on 8th and Bannock and 6th and Bannock, that's where our main hospital locations are. But we are actually in 50 locations around the city from Montbello to Five Points to several locations on Federal Boulevard. Economists and public policy people call that the "inverted L," it's the highest poverty area in the city and we are proud to be in those locations because there are barriers to care that some people face."
Denver Health also provides services in 19 Denver Public Schools as well as a van that visits schools to provide care without the support of the city or DPS.
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