UH - OH

Today's Asbury Park Press reports that the Bozo-coiffed Governor Jon Corzine wants to study New Jersey Hospitals. This is the guy who tried to tax hospital beds $50.00 per day.

According to the article, "Corzine said he wants to form a hospital study commission similar to the one used by the federal government when deciding whether to close military bases."

Uh - oh.

Corzine's comparing apples and Brazil nuts here. A military base is a facility opened by and operated by the government. If it is determined to be obsolete by the government, it is then closed by the government. Hospitals, with some exceptions, are private institutions established to provide services on basis of need in a given area. Key word here is need. Need is why there isn't a Wharton Tract Hospital. While hospitals do receive state aid, our American system of medicine remains in the private sector. Much as Corzine and his hand-picked U. S. Senator Robert Menendez may wish otherwise, New Jersey is not a province of Canada yet.

The article also states, "The New Jersey Hospital Association says that 40 percent of the state's hospitals lost money last year and the average hospital earned a 1 percent profit."

Interesting. It would be very interesting to see how the influx of illegal aliens to New Jersey has contributed to that. The Press article does not mention that. California has lost at least 60 hospitals because of the financial impact of uninsured illegal aliens and their anchor babies. While here in New Jersey state aid goes toward treating the uninsured, the Press article was otherwise short on numbers. We certainly have enough native-born uninsured without importing more.

Closing a hospital may make sense to a roomful of bean counters like Corzine, until one of those bean counters finds he now has to travel 15 more miles to bring his grandmother to the ER. Maybe those bean counters need to concentrate more on making hospitals profitable.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with setting priorities on the distribution of state aid. That's actually a good thing. But we know all too often what happens when the long, hairy arm of government reaches into places where it doesn't belong.

I smell trouble here. This bears some watching.