Public officials are doing their part by trying to make sure that the infrastructure for the hospital site is ready when a company is prepared to make a commitment. The Orange Economic Development Corporation and City Council approved $340,669 in additional funding to create the first phase of Eagle Point Boulevard and Medical Center Drive. That location will serve a complex of medical offices planned for the site.
That’s not the first expenditure either. More than $1.4 million already had been approved for the project. Orange City Manager Mike Kunst said the project was split into phases due to a rise in material costs after the pandemic and demand in the construction industry.
But the project is not just a dream. The EDC and City Council also approved an incentive agreement with NXO JV LLC, a new company registered in Delaware. According to documents submitted by its lawyers, the company would invest $15 million during the first phase of the project to create a 40,000 square-foot facility. The incentive agreement would require the company to get a certificate of occupancy for the facility by the end of March in 2023.
That’s encouraging, and Orange County officials should make this project a priority. The county doesn’t absolutely need a hospital to keep moving forward, but obviously, a facility like that would be a major practical and psychological boost for the county.
Orange County lost its only hospital in 2015 when Baptist Hospital discontinued in-patient services and later shut down its emergency room. The county now has several private ER-type facilities, but many insurance companies and government programs won’t compensate patients for care received there — even though that care can be as good as anything in a public hospital. These clinics are still staffed by licensed doctors and nurses. Still, ambulances can’t take patients to facilities like that.
But a public hospital could serve more patients, and that will keep more health-care dollars in Orange County. If those dollars are spent in Jefferson or Hardin County, the region still benefits. But if those patients go to Houston, Southeast Texas loses out financially.
In fact, the drive for this hospital underscores the need for more area residents to get their medical treatment here instead of in Houston, Louisiana or some other location. The more we patronize our health care providers, the better their bottom line. Just like any business, steady traffic encourages them to expand their facilities or hire more staff.
Issues like this also represent another reason that the Texas Legislature should expand Medicaid access under Obamacare just as 38 other states have done. When that happens, hospitals get more reimbursement for the care of low-income residents instead of just treating them for free in the ER. That’s one of the reasons that so many hospitals have closed in Southeast Texas and the entire state in recent years.
Orange County officials are trying to reverse that dismal trend, and they could use some help from their counterparts in Austin.