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Posted on 12/01/2025 10:19:38 AM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
More than 100 rural hospitals have closed in the United States over the last decade, leaving millions of Americans without access to emergency services, testing, inpatient care, and primary care. While these closures have been on the rise in rural America since the 2008-2009 recession, they’ve increased at an alarming pace over the last few years, including at least 18 that closed or converted to an operating model that excludes inpatient care this year alone.
Currently, more than 700 rural hospitals are at risk of closing—with 300 at immediate risk of closing—meaning that this distance is likely to widen even further for affected residents. And unlike urban residents, rural residents often rely on these hospitals for both primary and emergency care…
These rural hospitals are closing because they simply don’t have enough money to cover the high cost of care delivery to their communities, but the contributing factors behind this lack of revenue are multifold: declining patient volumes, low reimbursements from both private and public insurers, staffing shortages, alternative models of care, and more.
Beyond each of these factors, the broader issue with hospital closures is that no one is accountable for fixing this problem, says Alan Sager, professor of health law, policy & management, “Nobody in state government, Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance companies has any accountability for identifying where hospitals are needed, how many beds they need, what emergency and other services they should provide, and making sure they generate enough revenue to cover the cost of efficient delivery of needed care.”
Despite this lack of action, affordable and accessible healthcare is easily achievable …the US already spends enough money on healthcare—an estimated $5.6 trillion this year—to deliver and pay for care for everyone in the nation, Sager says.
(Excerpt) Read more at bu.edu ...
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“Despite this lack of action, affordable and accessible healthcare is easily achievable …the US already spends enough money on healthcare—an estimated $5.6 trillion this year—to deliver and pay for care for everyone in the nation, Sager says.”
Like passing “obamacare?”
Apparently, poor uninsured illegals is now spelled "and more."
“The US spends”... Who is Sager yakking about? The government? Medical insurance companies? Businesses that offer health insurance as part of their worker incentives? The individual person?
Well, it IS all of the above....
Except...the problem is the government has no money of its own, so must shake down the hard workers in order to pay its way, which is often about giving to lazy mofos who don't work hard like the burdened tax payer does.
Insurance companies will always need to make a profit, so things aren't free, and businesses offering insurance do so to keep and entice workers whose efforts give them profits. Individuals who work hard and earn money chose to spend it on their health.
Freebies for nothing is the problem, not the solution.
The small regional medical group in my Oregon area, 1 large hospital, 1 med and 1 sm, just sold out to a larger med group in Washington. They claim it will allow them to continue the high quality of care, but who knows.
The small hospital just 12 miles away will probably stay open, because it is the only trauma facility covering from the valley to the Cascade Crest, and about 60 miles N - S.
Rural hospitals serve primarily red states and red state voters. Which is why it’s emerging as major sticking point for 2026 midterms.
Obama is a hemorrhoid that never stops bleeding.
so if a local community needs a hospital, the local people can get together (civic, fraternal, church/synagogue, whatever... its done all kinds of ways)
and build a local hospital.
just like local people (in some very small towns, incidentally, as well as larger cities) have done for many, many years
BU can take its federal bureaucrappy and stuff it.
Our rural hospital closed. It seems that operating taxpayer funded maternity and neonatal services for apparently-indigent illegal aliens is not a winning strategy in the hospital bidness! 😂
Whether a company provides healthcare or hand grenades, its business model must be profitable.
You can tell that to the people in “Trump country” for whom this mainly impacts.
Appalachia’s Rural Hospital Crisis deepens
https://appalachianmemories.org/2025/09/16/appalachias-rural-hospital-crisis-deepens-in-2025/
I know of an example where a town in a county with population of 3500 just build a brand new one without difficulty.
Emergency Room Services is code for ILLEGAL ALIENS NO CHARGE
Twenty years ago we were hearing about many hospitals and clinics in the Southwest going under precisely because of illegal immigration.
Rural hospitals all over the country have been slowly eliminated. Research from my dissertation in 1990 showed the trend then (which was discouraging). It’s sad in that many people rely on these institutions for their health care and many are ‘place bound’ with no way to travel 50+ miles to a larger city for care.
You beat me to it.
The mixed bag of regulation and market forces is not as efficient as a pure market economy. Rural population decline is found not only in Appalachia, but also in the Plains states, the Mississippi Valley, and the Rocky Mountain states. Farming is in ever fewer hands, manufacturing and mining are in long term decline (although Trump may revive these areas), and the arrival of big box stores and banks with headquarters in distant cities have largely eliminated the class of locally based businessmen who would support local commerce and sit on school boards or church boards and fund and run civic groups. A well-off farmer or rancher may still be available, but the local bank president and the operator/owner of a local grocery store or car dealership have been replaced by managers working for a corporation based in a large city or another state. The lifestyle issues are a factor, with poor food choices leading to long term health issues, the ready availability of illegal drugs, and alcohol abuse being big factors.
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