Property owners may be surprised when they look at the estimated tax bills arriving in their mailboxes: Despite the rollout of the federal Affordable Care Act, they're still obligated to pay taxes to Palm Beach County's health care district.
That's not changing because of Obamacare, said Dr. Ronald J. Wiewora, chief executive and chief medical officer for the Health Care District of Palm Beach County.
Every county property owner will continue to pay taxes to support the health care district. Obamacare has its own system of taxes to help reduce the ranks of the nation's uninsured.
The main reason is the health care district provides a range of services that won't be offset by Obamacare, such as the Trauma Hawk helicopters that transport critically injured patients to the county's two trauma centers in Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, and nurses who work in schools throughout the county.
It also operates a hospital in the county's impoverished Glades region, a nursing home and four health care centers.
"The district does a number of coverage products. And some of them will be affected as things roll out with Accountable Care and some of them won't," Wiewora said.
Obamacare isn't cutting the property tax — at least not yet — because it doesn't cover everyone. Even after it's fully in place, there still will be plenty of people who won't be insured.
Many Floridians won't get help from the Affordable Care Act because Republicans who control the state Legislature rejected one of Obamacare's central components, an expansion of the joint federal-state Medicaid health program for the poor.
No Medicaid expansion means there will be people who don't qualify for that program but are too poor to afford insurance. When they need service, county property taxpayers help cover the cost.
"There are going to be a lot of people … that still won't be covered," Wiewora said. "We'll need to continue to be that safety net for those people. Likely there will still be a need for those who can't get coverage."
Eventually, he said, the overhaul of the health care system is likely to reduce the care that's covered by property taxes. Over time, he expects the health care district's tax could go down.
Thomas Cleare, the district's chief program officer, said it runs two programs that are similar to insurance. One provides doctor and hospital services to Palm Beach County residents with incomes less than 150 percent of the poverty level. That's unlikely to change unless Medicaid is expanded, he said.
Another program helps people with incomes up to 300 percent of poverty. Those people could get coverage through Obamacare, so the district is planning to freeze new enrollments and will shift people over to the new federal health insurance exchanges. Depending on how fast that can be implemented, it could reduce some costs to property taxpayers.
If Florida decides to expand the Medicaid program — something the Health Care District would like to see happen, executives said — then taxes might go down sooner rather than later.
In its current fiscal year, the Health Care District property taxes accounted for $135.9 million of the district's $257.7 million budget. Palm Beach County property values are up this year, and district's commissioners lowered the tentative tax rate so it will take in the same amount from property taxes.
It's run by a seven-member board of commissioners, with three members appointed by the governor, three by the County Commission, and one representative of the state Department of Health.
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Public hearings on health care district taxes and spending
Proposed tax rate: $1.08 for every $1,000 of property value. Works out to $270 for the owner of a home worth $200,000 with a homestead exemption.
First hearing: Sept. 12, board meeting at 4 p.m., tax meeting at 5:15 p.m. Health Care District board room, 2601 10th Ave. North, Suite 100, Palm Springs.
Second hearing: Sept. 25, board meeting at 4 p.m., tax meeting at 5:15 p.m. Health Care District board room, 2601 10th Ave. North, Suite 100, Palm Springs.
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