Posted on 09/22/2017 9:39:57 AM PDT by spintreebob
The reasons are complex Is that code for It is not politically correct to state the #1 cause?
these rural hospital closures are hitting the southern United States the hardest. So would they also mention that it is precisely these same states that were hit the hardest who get the most benefit from Graham-Cassidy?
Health care experts point to a variety of reasons for the rapid decline of rural hospitals since 2010. But do they mention the #1 reason? Or carefully avoid it?
Under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1986, hospitals are required to ... absorb costs. Avoided PC police and criticized Fed government stupidity. They can get away with it. It occurred on Reagan's watch.
federal government has decreased in recent years. Due to sequestration No mention that sequestration was an Obama idea to which the Republicans compromised in a spirit of bipartisan ship.
Medicare payments have been reduced Not mentioned due to the shift of HHS money from Medicare to pay for Navigators.
ACA cut back a program to reimburse rural hospitals. And the Disproportionate Share Hospital program Surprise, the do blame ACA.
Georgia’s political leadership has refused to expand Medicaid, citing the costs for the state. And a bankrupt state would be able to sustain the cost?
With that uncertainty in mind, political leaders in Georgia are in a wait-and-see mode. That's funny. I thought GA's Senators, Congressmen, Governor, Legislators (especially rural legislators) and cabinet officials from GA (Perdue & Price) were enthusiastically pushing Graham-Cassid and were clearly not in wait-n-see mode.
Only way we’re going to survive in rural Georgia is to learn where the county line doesn’t end Is this an admission that government is the problem (county government)?
This is why Republican Governors buy into the Obamacare expansion of Medicaid.
The county is less than 10,000 people and the town is less than 1,000. Do taxpayers outside this locale owe them a hospital?
Expanding Medicaid would have meant greater access to insurance for low-income people and more reimbursement for hospitals, thus helping their bottom lines. But Georgia’s political leadership has refused to expand the program, citing the costs for the state.
...
But it wouldn’t have a done a darn thing about the cited mismanagement.
They would probably do just as well or better with a clinic or urgent care center.
The hospital closing is more a symptom than a cause, although it's both.
Poverty, brought on by the off-shoring of jobs is the main cause. But the Hospital was a major employer, and now it's gone too.
Trump needs to put the import tariff in place. Use the tariffs revenues to support unemployed Americans until jobs can be created.
When Obiecare first came out I read about a doctor in California who ceased taking any type of insurance, not even Medicare or Medicaid.
No credit/debit cards, no checks just good old fashioned greenbacks.
By doing away with the hassle of insurance and accepting only cash he eliminated so much overhead that he lowered office visits to $20, x-rays were something like $30 and lab costs were similarly low.
I imagine some enterprising doctors could band together and do the same for a rural health care center.
Most small towns do not need a full fledged hospital.
A health care center capable of doing x-rays, MRI’s and lab work along with an emergency surgical area and stabilization rooms would do the trick nicely.
Am I the only one who thinks this is possible?
Hmmm...what could the common denominator be?
Obamacare killing the rural hospitals. Happening here.
“the Lower Oconee Community Hospital shut down in June 2014...”
That is a lie, nothing bad happened anywhere, at any time when Hussein Odunga was president...you’re lying, obviously.
Sign of the times:
When the only employment options are at a private prison.
Thank you.
The author wants to make valid points about the health care crisis. Not just in small towns, but in large cities too.
But his main argument about the loss of a hospital in No-wheresville, GA is irrelevant.
“Hmmm...what could the common denominator be?”
Southeast has a high percentage of gibsmedat types.
Notorious for bad diets and no work ethic since sugar daddy Fedgov started the war on poverty.
"...hmmm...what could the common denominator be ..."
I totally agree and they are cost effective and work very well. I also agree with others that these are symptoms of larger problems which I think are NOT unsolvable. People who live in this country with less government dependency do well. When the funds dry up this is what happens.Small communities are the ones that die first. Agriculture should still be king down South but corporate farming is killing small farmers and we import way to much when we can produce here. Small business should not have shackles on them. We import too much crap from China that can be made here. Lastly,government policies that kill job growth,raise taxes and stifle the economy turn rural America into Walking Dead towns.
“Am I the only one who thinks this is possible?”
You would have the illegals as your primary customers. They are cash only, almost exclusively.
ACA compelled hospitals to conform to electronic med records and complex reporting requirements.
Government meddling in what should be a free market is costly.
concierge medicine
http://www.kiplinger.com/article/spending/T027-C000-S002-6-things-to-know-about-concierge-medicine.html
Yes, Obummer wanted regional medical services. Easier to control the population...
Southerners (and all of us) need to stop eating so much fried food, and start growing greens and onions at home.
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