TARBORO — Heritage Hospital officials and congressional leaders convened Friday to discuss health care issues that are affecting Edgecombe County and how recent legislation will help.

U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-1st District, spent the majority of the morning at the Tarboro hospital chatting with health care administrators — eager to learn about updates on health care reforms and what types of congressional and state-level funding could impact services.

The hour-long discussion ended with Butterfield touring the halls of the hospital’s Cancer Center and talking to several patients present for check-ups.

Heritage Hospital President Wick Baker said that he was waiting to hear from federal leaders in Washington, D.C., about how the health care legislation will kick in and impact residents in Edgecombe County and the state. One of his main concerns was about patients gaining access to health care, as well as issues like reimbursement for preventative services.

“We see the results of not having health insurance in our emergency rooms every day,” Baker said to Butterfield.

Butterfield said that he would support North Carolina with The Federal Medical Assistance Percentages — percentage rates used to determine the ratio of matching funds for each state’s Medicaid program — finding ways to ensure the state receives its fair share.

The state’s 2010-11 spending plan of roughly $18.9 billion depends on those dollars to balance things out. If that gets pulled state leaders will have to find another way to provide $500 million to the budget, Butterfield said.

“The only other choice is to cut back on state services or raise taxes; nobody wants to hear that,” Butterfield said. “The question is to what extreme should the federal government go to help with its Medicaid share?”

About 20 percent of Heritage Hospital’s costs are covered by Medicaid; 45 percent to 50 percent is covered by Medicare and 10 percent is uncompensated. With the high rate of gross charges each year, many rural hospitals are on the verge of “going into the red,” Butterfield said.

Other administrators such as Michele Cherry, Edgecombe County Breast Cancer Task Force manager, said more attention and funding is needed to focus on rampant disorders amongst county residents.

In a 2007 Breast Cancer Mortality Report by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, it revealed the county was ranked 16th highest in the U.S. for breast cancer mortality. The county also was one of eight areas in the U.S. targeted with a high mortality rate, 38 percent, along with other major U.S. cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago and Harlem.

Strokes also remain a concern. Edgecombe County has the highest stroke death rate in the state — 104.7 deaths per 100,000 people.

Using churches as a vessel to spread health knowledge is one way to combat illiteracy, Butterfield said. He said, one Sunday each a month during the year, church officials could allot time to show health presentations on HIV/AIDS, hypertension, heart disease and breast cancer — risks that are prevalent throughout Edgecombe County.

Butterfield said that he is awaiting regulation to the health care reforms to pass, unless Republicans decide to repeal them. But Baker said as jobs remain absent and many still are without health coverage, the needs cannot wait until 2014 — the year more than 30 million Americans are slated to benefit from recent health care reform legislation.

“We don’t have the luxury of postponing these decisions,” Butterfield said.