Kucinich Announces Townhall Meeting to Discuss Crisis at MetroHealth Monday, Oct. 10, 2011 7:00 pm at Merrick House in tremont

Cleveland, OH (September 30, 2011) – Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today announced a townhall community meeting to discuss the crisis at MetroHealth. The event will be held on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 7:00 pm ET at the Merrick House gymnasium, located at 1050 Starkweather Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.MetroHealth has taken on a disproportionate amount of uncompensated care in Cuyahoga County. Instead of seeking fair reimbursement from the Cleveland Clinic, which has not paid its fair share, they have chosen to cut jobs and go after the most vulnerable people by cutting service. At the same time, they have given away millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to CEO Mark Moran’s previous employer and have a grossly inflated salary structure for top employees.

“This is fundamentally wrong. It’s an abdication of the primary responsibility of MetroHealth. It’s time for the community and the county to start asking tough questions.

“MetroHealth needs to hear from the community about the unacceptability of its policies. I intend to hold a forum to give patients, Metro employees and other public officials an opportunity to be heard in the interest of developing alternatives to stop the layoffs and protect service to the most vulnerable among us.”

For more information regarding the townhall, call (216)228-8850.