County considers health care study

Manatee County Government staff is proposing a yearlong health care study that would provide the basis for a formal healthcare plan in the county.

The Manatee County Board of County Commissioners will review the proposal for the study — which would be conducted by the Manatee Chamber Foundation in conjunction with the University of South Florida College of Public Health — at its 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 6 meeting. 

Manatee County officials and local health care experts have called for a long-term plan for health care here, as a potential crisis looms.

A health care trust fund that provided about $9 million annually for medical and mental care to people in need will be depleted in 2015, county officials say. 

Manatee County would pay the Manatee Chamber Foundation $196,000 to complete the study.

Contact Josh Siegel at [email protected].