Thanks to ACA, rural hospitals closing their doors.

[koshergrl]

I predicted this:

"Since the beginning of 2010, 43 rural hospitals — with a total of more than 1,500 beds — have closed, according to data from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. The pace of closures has quickened: from 3 in 2010 to 13 in 2013, and 12 already this year. Georgia alone has lost five rural hospitals since 2012, and at least six more are teetering on the brink of collapse. Each of the state's closed hospitals served about 10,000 people — a lot for remaining area hospitals to absorb."

"These hospitals treat some of the sickest and poorest patients — those least aware of how to stay healthy. Hospital officials contend that the law's penalties for having to re-admit patients soon after they're released are impossible to avoid and create a crushing burden."

"Low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements hurt these hospitals more than others because it's how most of their patients are insured, if they are at all. Here in Stewart County, it's a problem that expanding Medicaid to all of the poorest patients -– which the ACA intended but 23 states including Georgia have not done, according to the federal government — would help, but wouldn't solve.

"They set the whole rural system up for failure," says Jimmy Lewis, CEO of Hometown Health, an association representing rural hospitals in Georgia and Alabama, believed to be the next state facing mass closures. "Through entitlements and a mandate to provide service without regard to condition, they got us to (the highest reimbursements), and now they're pulling the rug out from under us."

Rural hospitals in critical condition

 

[healthmyths]

I predicted this:

"Since the beginning of 2010, 43 rural hospitals — with a total of more than 1,500 beds — have closed, according to data from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. The pace of closures has quickened: from 3 in 2010 to 13 in 2013, and 12 already this year. Georgia alone has lost five rural hospitals since 2012, and at least six more are teetering on the brink of collapse. Each of the state's closed hospitals served about 10,000 people — a lot for remaining area hospitals to absorb."

"These hospitals treat some of the sickest and poorest patients — those least aware of how to stay healthy. Hospital officials contend that the law's penalties for having to re-admit patients soon after they're released are impossible to avoid and create a crushing burden."

"Low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements hurt these hospitals more than others because it's how most of their patients are insured, if they are at all. Here in Stewart County, it's a problem that expanding Medicaid to all of the poorest patients -– which the ACA intended but 23 states including Georgia have not done, according to the federal government — would help, but wouldn't solve.

"They set the whole rural system up for failure," says Jimmy Lewis, CEO of Hometown Health, an association representing rural hospitals in Georgia and Alabama, believed to be the next state facing mass closures. "Through entitlements and a mandate to provide service without regard to condition, they got us to (the highest reimbursements), and now they're pulling the rug out from under us."

Rural hospitals in critical condition

WHAT was the Major reason for ACA ? What crisis does ACA resolve?
EVERYONE KNOWS Obamacare was to cover the 46 million "uninsured" Americans. RIGHT?

Well who makes up that 46 million figure?
1) According to the Census 10 million of the 46 million are NOT CITIZENS... so why were they counted?
2) According to the Census 14 million are eligible for Medicaid/SCHIP but don't know it ... so why are they counted?
3) 18 million are under 34 make over $50,000 and choose NOT to have insurance... YET they are counted as "uninsured".
That adds up to 42 million!
So let's look at the 18 million under 34... what are the ODDs they will need insurance?

“Most medical bills are racked up by a relatively small percentage of the population, whether you’re young or old,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president and co-executive director of the Program for the Study of Health Reform and Private Insurance at Kaiser.
“The real point of insurance is to protect against these catastrophic medical events, which few people could pay for without coverage.”
A person 25 to 34 years old (insured or not) had a 5 percent chance of incurring medical bills of at least $27,000 in 2011,
GUESS WHAT ???
Catastrophic insurance for a young person can pay as low as $70 monthly for a plan with $2,500 deductible, 70/30 coinsurance, and $3,000 out-of-pocket maximum. Catastrophic plans usually have the same lifetime benefit as other medical insurance plans.
Lifetime benefit usually ranges between $3,000,000 and $5,000,000.
So based on these statistics... WHY would any one under 34 have health insurance when the odds of 1 out of 20 they will incur a bill and with
catastrophic insurance NO NEED!

 

[hazlnut]

It's working!!

Farms are run by machines which can easily be automated.

Two generation, rural America won't need hospitals, because there will be no people.

We just have to convince them to not have kids.

 

[koshergrl]

Yes, we know. You people want to congregate the masses in compounds located in cities, and take over the vast tracts of land that you force them to evacuate.

It isn't going to happen.

 

[Mr. H.]

It's working!!

Farms are run by machines which can easily be automated.

Two generation, rural America won't need hospitals, because there will be no people.

We just have to convince them to not have kids.

You're a fucking idiot.

 

[Stephanie]

that was the intention of OScamCare

to hurt us in every way they could think of.

 

[Moonglow]

The closest hospital where my last child was born closed in 2005 and reopened in 2012...it is only 13 miles down the road...

 

[rdean]

This seems to fit right in with the Republican's policy of "let him die". So what's the problem?

 

[Luddly Neddite]

"It's never OK for these people to get lower quality medical care," says Orlowski, a practicing nephrologist (kidney doctor) and former hospital chief operating officer. "We're a big enough country to figure this out."

Fix it.

We saw the same thing when HMOs took over. Same with Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare needed massive overhauls and now works very well and within budget.

This isnn't a new problem. It was broken and getting worse long before ACA.

As problems are found with ACA, fix them. Other countries have done it and so can we.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

The closest hospital where my last child was born closed in 2005 and reopened in 2012...it is only 13 miles down the road...

I saw the same thing outside Tucson. Small clinics that served the rural poor had closed down but reopened with ACA.

Doesn't mean there aren't problems but it also doesn't mean we should throw out the baby with the bath water.

RWs want to throw up their hands, give their money to the 1% and pay more while getting less.

 

[Stephanie]

this is what Obama and Gruber invisioned for all those "stupid people who votes" when they pushed this Fascist POS called, ObamaCare on us.

 

[g5000]

The closing of the rural hospitals is not entirely because of the ACA. And it isn't possible to draw that conclusion from the OP link unless one is extremely selective in one's vision.

Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement cuts are actually an ongoing part of the Republican budget in the 90s that supposedly were going to balance the budget. But ever since then, Congress has had to enact several "doc fix" bills to avoid those cuts.

The ACA is culpable in this situation in that it requires medical facilities to modernize. Electronic medical records and things of that nature. This is an expense out of reach of those hospitals who mostly provide service to Medicaid/Medicare patients.

It's a double whammy. If you serve mostly Medicaid/Medicare patients, you are already on a razor's edge because of the drive to reduce Medicaid/Medicare reimbursements, and then you are required to modernize under the ACA.

 

[g5000]

In 1997 Congress passed legislation, known as the “sustainable growth rate” (SGR), to try and reduce Medicare spending. If Medicare spending grew faster than a predetermined amount, doctors’ Medicare reimbursements would be cut the next year by enough to offset the overspending.

Not surprisingly, Medicare spending didn’t hit the target rate, and, again not surprisingly, Congress didn’t want doctors to take the financial hit. So Congress has passed legislation, known as the “Doc Fix,” multiple times to postpone the cuts and keep the reimbursement levels roughly the same.

But those postponed deficits keep piling up, and come January doctors will see, on average, a 24 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement levels. And here comes the double whammy: Medicaid reimbursements will face the same 24 percent cut.

Doctors Face A 24% Pay Cut In Both Medicare And Medicaid Reimbursements - Forbes

 

[koshergrl]

Nonsense.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

The closest hospital where my last child was born closed in 2005 and reopened in 2012...it is only 13 miles down the road...

Gee, thanks for the update. Jesus, where the hell do you live.. 13 miles to the nearest hospital? I have two majors and God only knows how many urgent care clinics within 5.

 

[JakeStarkey]

I bet if you folks do some research you will find that everyone of these hospitals were scheduled for closing.

The old Dickinson medical center for instance, sits in Jasper, Texas, empty, because the Christus board of directors bought it out so that they could keep the primary hospital under their control.

 

[JakeStarkey]

The closest hospital where my last child was born closed in 2005 and reopened in 2012...it is only 13 miles down the road...

Gee, thanks for the update. Jesus, where the hell do you live.. 13 miles to the nearest hospital? I have two majors and God only knows how many urgent care clinics within 5.

Move to Stonewall, LA, and check out the availability of medical services.

 

[g5000]

ObamaCare was advertised as legislation which would reduce the per capita cost of health care in America. That was the bait.

In this, it has utterly failed.

What ObamaCare actually achieves is the redistribution of those costs, largely from the unproductive members of our society onto the backs of the productive members of our society. That was the switch.

One third of the "involuntarily insured" in America are high school dropouts. These are the people whose costs are being redistributed to the more productive members of our society.

In one of the most Orwellian turns in the history of American political debate, the supporters of ObamaCare have attempted to portray those who will have to cough up their money in order to support the high school dropouts as "freeloaders".

The insurance mandate is critical to the survival of ObamaCare. The insurance mandate is the means by which productive people are forced to overpay in order to pay for the insurance of high school dropouts. This is the redistribution of cost under ObamaCare.

ObamaCare was a classic "bait-and-switch" con job.

 

[koshergrl]

The closest hospital where my last child was born closed in 2005 and reopened in 2012...it is only 13 miles down the road...

Gee, thanks for the update. Jesus, where the hell do you live.. 13 miles to the nearest hospital? I have two majors and God only knows how many urgent care clinics within 5.

I recently lived in one of the poorest counties in the state, where the nearest hospital was 200 miles away.

 

[JakeStarkey]

ObamaCare was advertised as legislation which would reduce the per capita cost of health care in America. That was the bait.

In this, it has utterly failed.

What ObamaCare actually achieves is the redistribution of those costs, largely from the unproductive members of our society onto the backs of the productive members of our society. That was the switch.

One third of the "involuntarily insured" in America are high school dropouts. These are the people whose costs are being redistributed to the more productive members of our society.

In one of the most Orwellian turns in the history of American political debate, the supporters of ObamaCare have attempted to portray those who will have to cough up their money in order to support the high school dropouts as "freeloaders".

The insurance mandate is critical to the survival of ObamaCare. The insurance mandate is the means by which productive people are forced to overpay in order to pay for the insurance of high school dropouts. This is the redistribution of cost under ObamaCare.

ObamaCare was a classic "bait-and-switch" con job.

Well, that's your opinion, anyway.