Commentary by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Sometimes I wonder if the lack of hair on my scalp is not a result of male pattern baldness but of years of daily pulling it out due to agony and distress.

Three stories came out this past two weeks that illustrates an important axiom. Money talks. Money walks.

One involves the Wal-Mart corporation, the other involves the moving of the St. Louis Rams, and then the third involves our own hospital: Sumner Regional Medical Center.

Wal-Mart was in Clearwater for a nanosecond.

Wal-mart’s short days

The Wal-Mart corporation, which owns the world, has announced it is closing many of its stores. Thankfully, the Wellington Super Center is not listed as one of the cuts. But up the road, Clearwater is losing its Wal-Mart Express.

If you didn’t go to the Wal-Mart Express in Clearwater or the one in Rose Hill, you aren’t alone. They were here for a nanosecond. Wal-Mart swooped into Clearwater in 2015, bought up its only local pharmacy and opened a new fancy store with great prices and much better convenience. Where you can get gas, a box of Sugar Frosted Flakes and your prescribed narcotics in one location.

Less than a year later, Wal-Mart announced it was closing some of its Express stores. Now Clearwater has an empty building to deal with and no pharmacy.

Clearwater residents have mixed feelings. The lone independent grocery store appears to be benefitting nicely with Wal-Mart’s departure. But now the town fathers have to deal with attracting a new pharmacy to town – something that never would have happened had Wal-Mart ever stepped foot into town in the first place.

Thanks for your service Wal-Mart.

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Buh-bye St. Louis

Of course, getting screwed over isn’t just a small-town thing, the city of St. Louis just lost the Rams. And for the second time in its history, St. Louis loses a football team.

If you have been following this story as closely as I have, with all the backstabbing, infighting and disloyalty amongst owners, it illustrates capitalism at its worse. The goal amongst owners: instead of making $8 billion a year as they do now, but $25 billion before the year 2027. In order to do this and grow the brand, the NFL needed a franchise in Los Angeles, the epicenter of entertainment.

I have no objections to them moving a team or putting an expansion franchise in L.A. It was the way it was done. Rams owner Stan Kroenke opened up his checkbook and offered to build a fancy prancy $1.6 billion stadium in the middle of Inglewood, Calif. that is said to make Jerry Jones Cowboy Stadium look like a hillbilly shack. OK. That’s capitalism.

But he had to insult and kick the town of St. Louis in the process. Despite, the city of St. Louis plans to build a new stadium in Missouri, it doesn’t have the money to compete. Despite, the accusations that St. Louis only supports the baseball Cardinals, the community had healthy attendance for a St. Louis Rams franchise that basically stunk on the field.

Kansas City fans don’t you think it couldn’t happen with the Chiefs. You’re just lucky that Clark Hunt is happy to have the Chiefs in Kansas City… for now.

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Money on the table …

Terry Deschaine

Then there is Sumner Regional Medical Center and rural hospitals across the state of Kansas, which are in financial straits. And yet, all of them, have availability of federal aid that is sitting on the table for their consumption. If you haven’t read it, I urge you to read Terry Deschaine’s guest editorial feature here from last Sunday.

In a nutshell, Deschaine states that KanCare expansion would make a significant difference to SRMC’s financial outlook, providing anywhere from $600,000 to $750,000 per year to pay for care that currently is being provided to the uninsured population eligible under Medicaid expansion.

Deschaine went on to say:

KanCare expansion makes good economic sense and helps all of us. Kansans pay federal taxes, a portion of which was intended to support Medicaid expansion in the states. Many states have taken advantage of the federal funds, while Kansas has left nearly $1 billion dollars on the table in the past three years.

Ongoing federal cuts in Medicare and Medicaid in the Affordable Care Act were intended to be partially offset by Medicaid expansion. Kansas hospitals still are being cut, but there is no offset since the state has refused to expand Medicaid.

In other words, the Kansas state legislature under the spell of its supreme dictator Sam Brownback, are holding the hospitals hostage.

This seems like a no brainer. Although there is most certainly a lot of things wrong with the Affordable Care Act, i.e. Obamacare, these are the rules we have to play with. Kansas legislators seem intent on not playing by these rules and we quite possibly will be losing our hospital because of it.

Even our own local representation seems oblivious to the hospital’s plight.

State Rep. Kyle Hoffman in an Sumner Newscow article written a week ago state that expansion of KanCare would increase the number and cost the state more money. He noted that the Feds have already cut medicare, and he thinks the state would not get that much money after balancing those two things.

Kyle Hoffman

State Rep. Kyle Hoffman in an Sumner Newscow article written a week ago stated that expansion of KanCare would eventually cost the state more money. He noted that the Feds have already cut Medicare, and he thinks the state would not get that much money after balancing those two things.

While he thinks it would help rural hospitals, he thinks the state would end up getting stuck with the bill.

Let me get this straight. He thinks it will help the local hospital but it would be bad for the state. Since when is the state so much more important than our local hospital?

And there is no proof that the federal government would renege on their end of the deal. States that have participated in the program have had 100 percent reimbursement from the federal government in the two years. And if the feds did renege, Kansas most certainly would be in company with almost every other state in the U.S. which isn’t stupid enough not to take the money! There is such of thing as comfort in numbers.

As Deschaine estimated above, Kansas has left $1 billion on the table.

Mr. Hoffman, if you are reading this, please understand this important point.

This is your legacy here. If SRMC closes you will forever be linked as one of the people who did not lift a finger to help this institution when it needed it the most. This hospital desperately needs your help. And again this is money sitting on the table. Your Republican cronies will forgive you for doing your part of trying to save a hospital so many of your constituents use.

SRMC officials didn’t make the rules of Obamacare. But they have to live with them. Give SRMC officials the opportunity to maximize its revenue potential.

After all in this case for SRMC, money is walking away.

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