HEALTH : Bill Seeks to Lure Doctors to Underserved Southeast

Health-care providers could be wooed to the medically underserved Southeast area through incentives similar to those used to attract business to economically troubled areas, according to an Assembly bill.

The bill, introduced by Assemblywoman Martha M. Escutia (D-Huntington Park), would create 10 “medical enterprise zones” throughout the state and offer tax credits and other incentives to health professionals who practice in the zones.

The medical enterprise zones would exist within some of the 25 existing business enterprise zones.

If adopted, the bill could help reduce long-term and emergency health care costs by making preventive care readily available to needy residents, Escutia said.

“My constituents are classified as the ‘working poor’ who earn an average income of $7,500 per year,” Escutia said. “Many are in desperate need of health services but lack the financial resources or insurance to pay for the services.”

The Federal Bureau of Primary Health Care has designated the cities of Commerce, Bell, Huntington Park and Maywood as “health professional shortage areas,” poor regions where the ratio of residents to full-time doctors is about 3,500 to 1, and where there are high rates of birth and infant mortality, according to a bureau report.