Social Security turns thumbs down on U.H.S. purchase
The trial balloon that floated over Social Security headquarters and Universal Health Services this week has been officially shot down. According to S.S.B.’s chief executive officer, Dr. Louis Zabaneh, the proposal for the board to buy U.H.S. was given to an independent consultant three weeks ago for an initial evaluation. If the assessment proved at all feasible a more detailed study would have followed. But that second look won’t be necessary as last night the consultant recommended thumbs down on the project.
Dr. Louis Zabaneh, C.E.O., Social Security Board
“The process is that by law the investment committee needs to go through investment proposals and then the investment committee makes recommendation to the full board, one way or the other. After last night’s meeting with the consultants the investment committee decided that there was not enough there to warrant us going further with this U.H.S. matter.”
And while the U.H.S. purchase is for now a non-starter, the possibility that Social Security will one day own its own hospital—like other Central American nations—has not been ruled out. But one intriguing question raised by the initiative is where it came from in the first place. The media—this station included—assumed that the idea to buy Universal was forced upon the S.S.B. by a desperate government, anxious to unload its thirty-three million dollar nightmare. According to Zabaneh, that’s not how it went.
Dr. Louis Zabaneh
“It came from within the board. As I said the board we’ve been travelling together with management…in fact it was precipitated by one of our staff who when on a trip and the person slip down and her back and they were being hosted by one the S.S.B.’s in Central America and immediately the person was taken to their hospital and served instantly and that report came back and we said well you know some people have fine facilities, their contributors are getting great service, let us look as we go into the future…we want to have good investments as we go along and one area that most people are looking at is health and so it was within that context that we at the board started to look at it.”
Stewart Krohn
“Dr. Zabaneh, let’s make it very clear, did you receive any approach from government about the Social Security Board as a possible buyer of Universal Health Services?”
Dr. Louis Zabaneh
“No approach from government to do that. That was something that came from inside that we thought that we wanted to educate ourselves on that matter. We have our work to do at S.S.B., we have a process, we have laws that we have to follow and we are doing that. Yes, we know there’s an election coming up but not because there’s an election does that mean that we are gonna drop everything and wait til after elections. We have our work to do so there are many other things in the areas of investments that we are looking at. It turns out that this one is a contentious one so clearly everybody jumped when they heard about it but we have to do our work so regardless of an election coming up we’re gonna be making assessments, following our procedures to look at various other things that re on the table.”
Stewart Krohn
“While the Social Security Board charts a more or less independent course you can’t escape the fact that Social Security is still a reargues of government. To what extent do your policies have to be in tune with the broader policies of the government of the day?”
Dr. Louis Zabaneh
“Well we live within the context of the day, no question about it. It’s a reality that in terms of the composition of the board there’s five government representatives and then you have two from the private sector and two from the union, that is a reality but within that context, even within any government as you would have seen, people have a mind of their own and in this setting here the board has gotten the opportunity to bring to bear their wisdom on these matters, and as far as I have seen from my three months there it is the board that is making these policies.”
A government release today reiterated Zabaneh’s contention that the approach to purchase U.H.S. did not come from government. The release goes on to say that negotiations continue with a private sector buyer and the matter should be concluded shortly.
