Cachexic Healthcare

The timing was perfect. On the way to a meeting I was listening on the radio to an Obama Administration spokesman saying that that the Administration has saved millions of jobs and made new ones and she pointed to healthcare as an example. The meeting was for the Executive Committee of the hospital which is where the clinical staff and the adminsistration try to mesh the two to provide the best care possible given the monetary situation. At the meeting, the administration dropped the bombshell. The hospital loses money on self pay, Medicare and Medicaid and makes up the difference with the private insured. Well, the number of the private insured patients has plummeted. Since the main money is made on elective procedures like total hips and knees, and people are holding off on these, the medical center is going broke. This is despite the fact that hospital is 85 to 95% full on average. A huge cut in Medicare is also coming and the Obama Administration and Congress is getting rid of the tax breaks that hospitals got to take care of the indigent. Since by law the hospital has to provide its services and it can not turn anyone away who comes to the ER the only place it can cut costs is staffing. So, as of this Monday 25% of the medical center's staff will be laid off. Four of 12 associated community hospitals will be closed and all outpatient physical therapy/occupational therapy and infustion centers will be closed.

I guess I should look on the bright side. The other medical center is cutting 30%! I guess Obama's spokesperson hasn't been to a hospital lately.