Galveston County Daily News, Aug. 9, 2009
Heber Taylor, editor of the Galveston paper, wrote in an editorial that county commissioners are taking too long in deciding how to keep their end of a legislative package that will allow UTMB to build a new $150 million hospital tower. The county, lawmakers said, has to kick in more money to care for the county's uninsured residents. Taylor writes that commissioners, instead of risking the future of UTMB by asking voters to approve a tax-based hospital district, should agree to provide care at 100 percent of the federal poverty level by raising the property tax rate. "The best course is painful, but it's clear. The failure to rebuild the medical branch would be catastrophic for Galveston County. The county's leaders need to decide on a plan for getting this job done and they need to start selling it now. It's late - very late - in the game."