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get free service and end up walking into the hospital emergency room when they are ready to deliver. Dr. Tucker confirmed that it would, but he felt it would not be, an excessive cost to the County because after we get past the 100% of poverty Level, some sliding scale fees will be imposed. He explained that the difference between the Health Dept.'s fee and'a private -practitioner's fee is that the non-payment of fees is not used as grounds to refuse service. Also any fee that is set by the Health Dept. has to be based on the actual service cost as opposed to any profit being involved, which results in the fee being considerably less. Jan Gay, Assistant Manager of the Prenatal Program, gave a brief rundown on the success of the program which involved 250 woman last year, and explained how good prenatal care for high risk women produces good healthy babies. Chairman Scurlock felt that it could not be emphasized too much that the high cost of liability insurance is impacting the entire medical field; in fact, it is difficult for even those women who can afford to pay to find a doctor because so many obstetricians have stopped delivering babies. Dr. Tucker felt that the this program is covered by risk management and falls under the sovereign immunity of the State of Florida. Commissioner Wodtke realized that while an annual income of $20,000 is not very much these days for a family of four, he knows of many families who manage to get by on that amount. Dr. Tucker stated that basically we are spending a little money now to save a substantial amount later on. THE CHAIRMAN CALLED FOR THE QUESTION. The Motion was voted on and carried unanimously, 4-0. 63 J U L 2 1986 BOOK 64 F'a: t 89, 3