Hospitals in Mass. feel fiscal squeeze; 16 reported losses; service cuts feared [RomneyCARE at work]

Boston Globe ^ | July 10, 2011 | Robert Weisman

[Diogenesis]

Hospitals in Mass. feel fiscal squeeze 16 reported losses;
service cuts feared [RomneyCARE at work]

"Massachusetts hospitals are buckling under growing financial strains,
with 16 - nearly a quarter of them - losing money last year ...
Thirteen hospitals in the state also suffered losses in 2009,
but the deficits at many of them widened in 2010
... Health care professionals say the financial squeeze is likely to tighten
... So far, few have resorted to cutting medical services,
but there are concerns that could happen."

"Hard-pressed hospitals have done away
with thousands of jobs over the past few years.
Many have also introduced programs to cut waste
and streamline operations.

"In all, Massachusetts hospitals pared their projected expenditures
by about $3.1 billion in 2009 and 2010,
according to a study by the Massachusetts Hospital Association."

[Vermont Lt]

Not necessarily.

My wife works in Hospital Administration at one of the MA Hospitals. Here is what she is telling me:

The number of “elective” surgeries is way down because people cannot afford them.

The number of people coming to the ER for non emergency care is dropping significantly due to higher co-pays, which folks are choosing not to pay.

Neither of those are bad, if you are a hospital that can charge a lot for your care. However, if you are a hospital that relies on state insurance or medicare for your payments, you are screwed. This is because you cannot charge enough to your insured customers to cover the loss on your uninsured customers.

And....get ready for it....the unions behind the nurses do not care one lick for patient satisfaction or quality measures. If you ask them to do ANYTHING outside of the contract, they will simply ignore it or demand concessions.

And, if the hospital can charge higher rates, the medicare and state insurance pays it. For example, a traditional, non complicated birth is charged almost 40% more at the hospital down the road...and the state pays it. But the quality measures for the “poor people” hospitals are better and charge less.

In the end, if the state is going to run healthcare, they need to standardize the reimbursement for the same procedures at hospitals in the same area. But they don’t.

If you are going to go all socialized, then do not go half assed. If you are going to expect one hospital in a community to support ALL of the poor people, then you need to support the hospital.

The problem is that you cannot pretend you are not taking over, when your reimbursements are driving the system to exactly that.

[Rashputin]

"Isn't that supposed to be how it works?"

Only if you think you should also sit out elections when no one who shares your specific faith is on the ballot. Voting Mormon first and all else second, Catholic first and all else second, or any example you like, doesn't work unless you know that the person on the ballot is true to their faith and honest about it. What about voting for the Kennedy clan because you're Catholic? What sort of good idea is that if you know that abortion is murder? That's just one example and I'm sure there are plenty of other examples where someone claims to follow a particular religion but acts contrary to the tenants and beliefs of that religion when in office.

Now, in theory you could see that someone was true to the faith you share and know that they would act in accordance with that faith when in office. Unfortunately, most politicians put their politics ahead of their faith once they're elected. That's why I judge candidates on their track record rather than what they say is their religion. You could be right about the solidarity of other groups being greater than that of Mormons, I don't know. I do know that the few Mormons I know say it's very difficult for them to consider voting against a Romney because he is a Mormon even though they don't agree with everything he's done. Maybe the folks I know are an exception, and if so then you could be right. I've never dug into the matter beyond talking to a few folks I know who are Mormon.

[LibsRJerks]

So right. If Romney gets the nod ...we’ll have to watch the media denigrate Romney for his failed healthcare plan, while they try to prop up Obama for HIS failure of a plan that’s already in the works.

Cripes — what a freakin’ mess.

[who knows what evil?]

Right next door in Red Hampshire; hospital employees are facing MAJOR layoffs. Seems the state of NH, ruled by Democrat Governor Lynch, isn't reimbursing hospitals for Medicaid, and now the hospitals can't meet their massive federal tax bills due on September 15th.

It's all coming down soon, America...crash.

[MinuteGal]

"I'm surprised that your bill was that small ($78,000)".

So was I, LOL....but when the bill for the various doctors comes in I expect this sum to double.

Leni

[MinuteGal]

It's just the opposite in my suburban Chicago county. The hospitals are jammed, beds are hard to come by. Emergency section is chaos with long waits on the gurneys in the little emergency cells till a bed opens up.

This is an affluent county with some of the finest hospitals in the country. I talked with several medical staff during my stay. The nurses and nurses' aides, etc. who are dealing with the patients on their various floors are going nuts because they're too busy and on overload.

I was told that an enormous amount of the local population, particularly the seniors, are getting everything done healthwise that has to be done...and probably a lot of things that don't have to be done for the moment.....NOW.

The reason?....they're checking in for every kind of ailment and surgery to get it over and done with. They're deathly afraid that if Obamacare sets in, they'll have to pay through the nose or have to wait in line, or their dependable private insurers will be out of business or their supplemental insurance will disappear or their savings will be wiped out in the event of a catastrophic illness. Or their personal doctors may quit. Or whatever other fears they have, like (shhh) "death panels".

Right now, their private insurance policies and/or supplemental policies and/or Medicare pay either everything or most of their medical bills depending on their age and coverage.

Essentially, the good news is that people here (and probably a lot of folks across the fruited plain) are cramming the hospitals now because they have NO faith in Obama and his upcoming socialist health plan.

I feel this gut reaction on the part of the populace will evidence itself positively for our side in the next election.

Leni

[Clintonfatigued]

This does not help Mitt Romney’s credibility. It looks like a dime store version of ObamaCare.

[Mr. Peabody]

[Sun]

I wonder if the liberals in MA realize how bad Romneycare is??