Something needs to be done. We had an excellent regional hospital in my county that was suddenly and inexplicably closed about 2 years ago. Now the nearest hospital is 40 minutes away. If you have a serious accident or other life threatening and sudden event, syonara sucker if you live around here.
*Some* hospitals could.
Frankly, I think the future should include an effort to follow the Mexican model; eg; produce, on the grounds of hospitals and in various suburban locations, small <2000 sq foot neighborhood clinics staffed by nurse practitioners and supervised by visiting docs. There are already some of these things showing up in shopping malls. I myself think that 5-year-on-the-job nurses (RNs) can do about 60% of what MDs can do. Anything that would get good numbers of low-income folks out of real emergency rooms would save giant money.
There is no one thing that solves all of healthcare delivery. That’s why trying to explain any new idea to an 11-second attention span meathead or someone with a brain the size of a walnut like Schmuckie or Maxine is exceptionally difficult.
No. The answer is that it would not be possible. Philanthropists have many different priorities and multiplying the number of charity hospitals exponentially would just beggar all of them.
Nope.
In a word, no. All of those people you mention—and a lot of people you’ve never heard of, contribute millions every year.
I work at a not for profit hospital. The cost of treating the people who cannot pay takes up all of our money, insurance money, and money from the State of Mass. and we are still coming up short about $12 million this year.
And that means we need to cut staff, facilities, and support people. Our “profit margin” is 1/2 of 1%.
The best thing the average person can do is stop smoking, go on a diet, and go for a walk.
Yes it is possible. BUT—The CEO and senior officer pay must be reduced. I don’t believe that will ever happen. Most non-profit hospitals stay that way because they SPEND their profit in salary and new buildings/equipment. That’s where your money goes!!
Before the great depression (GD), there were charitable hospitals and benevolent societies up the wazoo. GD dried up middle class money and therefore much charitable giving so gov stepped in.
So yes, it could actually work that way, along w/a free market for paying customers.
Problem is, it’s not a free market as long as you have guaranteed buyers like the gov through medicare and medicaid.
That along w/other similar problems precludes the medical sector from being a free market.
As such, it costs more in charity dollars for specific service than it would otherwise, so to say.
So I think it’d help but will be limited effectiveness.
Socialism and capitalism don’t mix. When part of the sector is socialism it drags the rest down with it regardless, a la housing crisis 2008.
How about letting the MARKET decide how much hospitals charge? You need cancer care? Well, HospitalA charges $x and HospitalB charges $y. In another State, HospitalC charges $u and the overseas HospitalD charges $w. You also have option of NOT going to the hospital, which costs exactly $0. The CHOICE is yours, not the gubmint’s. PRO CHOICE. What a concept.
People might be more willing to pay the ridiculous levels of taxes we do if we followed my plan (I call it the Tenacious Tax Plan).
Stop all taxes on all businesses. Only tax wage earners, ALL Wage earners. No deductions, EVER for anything.
Every year, when a tax payer files for taxes, they go through a book provided by the government for free and they pick what percentage of their taxes go to what government funding. BAM! the federal budget is set for the next fiscal year. No money in the budget? Program is dead. Maybe 10% of taxes paid go to government discretionary fund.
NOW... The government must actually lobby the people for where the spending goes. Imagine commercials where the government has to sell itself to the citizens.
I can tell you that St. Jude’s hospitals do not pass along any cost reductions to people paying cash or with insurance. In 2009 I was taken to St.Jude’s hospital ER thinking I was having a heart attack. After ten minutes with a doctor and 4 hours of monitoring my heartbeat, they told me it was just a muscle spasm/cramp in my pectorals and the bill was over $8,000.