Miami-Dade OKs Jackson Health System funding

Jackson Memorial Hospital
Jackson Memorial Hospital

Voters in Miami-Dade County approved a referendum yesterday that would boost property taxes in order to accommodate $830 million in funding for new construction and equipment at Jackson Health System.

The hospital at 1611 Northwest 12th Avenue nearly went bankrupt two years ago. Now it will receive a makeover that could draw more insured patients to help pay for the many insured patients currently being treated there. This includes $500 million in construction, ranging from a new rehabilitation facility to as many as 12 urgent-care centers throughout the county.

“Plenty of people who voted for this bond today did it without thinking they would ever need Jackson themselves,” Carlos Migoya, Jackson chief executive, told the Miami Herald. “Over the next decade, we will look back at this as the turning point.”

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The county paid roughly $2 million for the bond referendum, the Herald said.

New equipment would include hospital beds, furniture, cardiology X-ray machines and oncology radiation instruments. [Miami Herald]Mark Maurer