Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Rural and small town hospitals and clinics are closing at a furious pace in the US. Without federal funding, these centers are not financially viable. Many will have to travel many miles for their healthcare needs. This trend is continuing. Who wants to drive over a hundred miles for their yearly check-up? Forget getting emergency treatment in a timely basis if you are having a heart attack!
Quote:
Nationwide, about 80 rural hospitals have closed since 2010, according to the Chartis Center for Rural Health. Another 673 rural hospitals are in danger of shutting their doors. Many providers worry that the newly proposed health care legislation -- and in particular its proposed cuts to Medicaid -- could push a number of hospitals over the edge.
Of the 26 states that have seen at least one rural hospital close since 2010, those with the most closures are located in the South, according to research from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program.
Thirteen hospitals in Texas have closed since 2010, the most of any state. Tennessee has seen the second-most closures, with eight hospitals closing since 2010. In third place is Georgia with six closures, followed by Alabama and Mississippi, which have each seen five hospitals close over the past six years.
Read an article recently where a rural hospital in North Carolina just closed down its maternity unit in an effort to stem the tide of red ink.
Maternity units are usually a money losing operation as they have to be staffed whether there are patients or not and many of those birthing babies these days either have Medicaid or no insurance at all, especially in the rural areas.
Closing maternity units is usually the first step to the hospital closing altogether.
Medical practices follow and soon rural residents are left driving long distances for medical care or doing without altogether.
This is a scenario many rural Americans are now facing and many others will face soon:
Quote:
As a nurse practitioner, Wanda Liddell knew it was a medical emergency when she saw one of her patients struggling to breathe last month. But in her backcountry town of Cross City, Florida, the ambulance took 30 minutes to arrive. Even worse, it was another 45 miles to the nearest hospital.
Quote:
A recent study estimates that nearly 30 million Americans don't live within an hour of trauma care. And a CNN analysis found that residents living in 16% of the mainland United States are 30 miles or more away from the nearest hospital.
Read an article recently where a rural hospital in North Carolina just closed down its maternity unit in an effort to stem the tide of red ink.
Maternity units are usually a money losing operation as they have to be staffed whether there are patients or not and many of those birthing babies these days either have Medicaid or no insurance at all, especially in the rural areas.
Closing maternity units is usually the first step to the hospital closing altogether.
Medical practices follow and soon rural residents are left driving long distances for medical care or doing without altogether.
A hospital here in DFW just closed its maternity ward and Baylor closed a hospital in a blue-collar suburb. It's not just rural areas!
Marketplace responding to the market. Rural locations probably have to drive an hour or more for lots of things, not just health care. You could probably list several hundred, maybe thousands of things that are far away from rural folks.
And?
It's a concession to being rural...and it existed long before Trump became president. Welcome to life in the sticks.
What once was the best hospital in the area just announced that they are firing nurses, many that have worked there a long time to bring on the temp traveling nurses.
The other local hospital did this a good while ago and their care is lousy. Yes this is all a single example but I imagine it's something many can relate to.
It's getting less and less about health care and all about Wall Street returns.
The problem is hospital ERs are forced to treat uninsured patients. That means increased costs for everyone else. And often, that's still not enough and the hospitals are forced into bankruptcy. One can search on any given year and find out how many and which hospitals filed for bankruptcy. It's a surprisingly large number every single year. Trump and the GOP just made it worse because they take away the insurance mandate, people cancel their insurance and expect the hospitals to treat them anyway.
In my job of reading various medical records, I am continually struck by how many of the doctors that staff the area hospitals are from other countries. They come here to attend medical school, complete their residency, and many, helpfully, stay. Others, do not. I imagine that in todays political climate, the number of those willing (or able) to come here will continue to dwindle.
Rural and small town hospitals and clinics are closing at a furious pace in the US. Without federal funding, these centers are not financially viable. Many will have to travel many miles for their healthcare needs.
Wow, just like in Germany and other Euro-States, there are no rural hospitals, and people have to drive long distances for certain types of care.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jojajn
Who wants to drive over a hundred miles for their yearly check-up?
No one in the US would be forced to drive "over a hundred" miles for their yearly check-up, which is performed in a doctor's office, not a hospital. There's at least one hospital in every county in the US.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jojajn
Forget getting emergency treatment in a timely basis if you are having a heart attack!
A hospital here in DFW just closed its maternity ward and Baylor closed a hospital in a blue-collar suburb. It's not just rural areas!
Yikes!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
