Michelle Obama recently resigned her postion as a highly paid board member at the University of Chicago Medical Center in the Hyde Park neighborhood where the Obamas lived. That hospital is in the news, because they have been considering a plan to cut the ER beds from 31 to 21. Two high ranking doctors quit their administrative posts to protest the plan, saying it could lengthen already long waiting times for patients who are "the poorest of the poor." Currently the wait is at least eight hours. If they need to be transfered from ER to ICU, add another 14 or more hours to the wait.
The real question being debated is how many patients on Medicaid and older patients on Medicare can a hospital afford to serve? That particular hospital makes more money on specialties like oncology, gastroenterology, and neurosurgery, that attract patients from around the U.S. Hospitals do not do as well when the government is picking up the tab for patients. Are you paying attention, Barack?
1 comment:
I worked for several years in 2 hospitals. In both cases, those who paid for their services were less than those who didn't. How did the hospital deal with that? Passing the costs onto the insurance companies who passed it onto the employer who provided the insurance. It's a neverending game, this paying for those who can't or won't or both.
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