Steele: Liars running county hospitals

Steele: Liars r
October 21, 2006
BY STEVE PATTERSON Staff Reporter

"They come down and tell us everything is rosy when we know it's not," she said during a Friday interview on the program "At Issue," which airs on WBBM-AM at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

About a third of the county's share of property tax bills are eaten up by hospital expenses. The county is facing a nearly $500 million deficit, and county officials say it's largely because hospital leaders aren't doing enough to collect bills.

Steele said that's why she's moving bill payment responsibilities away from hospital officials and under the county's finance office.

Steele also said the county is being saddled with unnecessary debt because many noncounty residents are using the health facilities -- many of whom aren't being asked for ID or about their ability to pay.

She said many people using county facilities can pay or are insured but never provide proof, as required.

Steele said she and other County Board members have repeatedly asked hospital leaders about problems, but "they tell us a new lie every month."

Steele's attack comes just days after County Board president candidates Todd Stroger and Tony Peraica promised to boot hospital chief Daniel Winship. A spokeswoman for Winship declined to comment.

Pointing to budget troubles, Steele also said some of the county's elected officials aren't heeding her call to cut 10 percent from their 2007 budgets. "It's a good time to get rid of some nonperforming employees," she said. "I don't understand what all the resistance is."

And though she described him as one of those nonperforming employees, Steele said she's allowing longtime county patronage chief Gerald Nichols to continue collecting his $114,000-a-year salary while he's suspended.

The FBI is probing Nichols' role in alleged job-rigging and clout hiring, but Steele said the state's attorney advised her not to make any changes in the midst of the investigation.

spatterson@suntimes.com