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.
The reality is that hospitals in small towns are closing because there is insufficient revenue generated for the expenses of running a small hospital. The hospitals get inadequate revenue from Medicare and Medicaid. And there are cuts in reimbursement ongoing.
I read an article a while ago, that it wasn't so much insufficient revenue, but the fact that many rural hospitals struggled to attract and retain qualified nurses and doctors, that was forcing many to close certain specialty departments (ie: maternity), downsize, or shut altogether.
I read an article a while ago, that it wasn't so much insufficient revenue, but the fact that many rural hospitals struggled to attract and retain qualified nurses and doctors, that was forcing many to close certain specialty departments (ie: maternity), downsize, or shut altogether.
That probably goes hand in hand with revenue/wages/benefits.
Many of the small rural hospitals are consolidating with larger hospitals in neighboring towns. That is the case with Twin River in the OP article. They are consolidating with Poplar Bluff less than 30 miles away.
When this the sky is falling rural hospitals are closing because red states wont expand Medicaid those Trumpsters are going to get what they deserve, rhetoric started I looked up all the hospital closing in my state and they were due to consolidations and one was because the building was old and dilapidated.
Bottom line, not every market can sustain every product and/or service.
Health care is no different. It is a set of products and services provided by knowledge and labor of others. you cannot set up hospitals and clinics like laying fiber optic cable or paving highways, because unlike infrastructure, health care services require staffing, ongoing fixed and variable costs, and require revenue. Not every market can sustain the income needed for operation and maintenance in perpetuity.
That's not a right or left thing, it's an economic reality of scarce resources and distribution thereof. And it's why ~65% of the population lives in less than 5% of the land area, frequently referred to "metropolitan areas."
There's no blame to assign because it's not a problem or an error. It's simply how the distribution of scarce resources under the law of supply & demand works in the real world. Nothing incorrect about economic laws operating exactly as they should.
I read an article a while ago, that it wasn't so much insufficient revenue, but the fact that many rural hospitals struggled to attract and retain qualified nurses and doctors, that was forcing many to close certain specialty departments (ie: maternity), downsize, or shut altogether.
This has happened at our small town hospital over the years. Some specialty might close, inconveniencing the populace, but there is still good money to be made with remaining capabilities. As a specialty is closed, overhead goes down.
Bottom line, not every market can sustain every product and/or service.
Health care is no different. It is a set of products and services provided by knowledge and labor of others. you cannot set up hospitals and clinics like laying fiber optic cable or paving highways, because unlike infrastructure, health care services require staffing, ongoing fixed and variable costs, and require revenue. Not every market can sustain the income needed for operation and maintenance in perpetuity.
That's not a right or left thing, it's an economic reality of scarce resources and distribution thereof. And it's why ~65% of the population lives in less than 5% of the land area, frequently referred to "metropolitan areas."
There's no blame to assign because it's not a problem or an error. It's simply how the distribution of scarce resources under the law of supply & demand works in the real world. Nothing incorrect about economic laws operating exactly as they should.
I agree with you.
But after the fact it becomes a lifestyle choice. And for so many conservatives it is the small town choice.
I can not help but wonder how mankind managed to survive all those centuries with none of the accoutrements we insist on today.
Higher percentages of women died in childbirth. Those numbers will go up as we continue to ration health care to major metropolitan areas.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jbgusa
The point of the post was that someone who can't afford a tank of gas can't afford to raise children; much less the one she has and the two she has coming.
She wouldn't have to worry about that tank of gas if the nearby hospital hadn't closed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Volobjectitarian
There's no blame to assign because it's not a problem or an error.
The bulk of for-profit hospitals close or consolidate not because they're losing money, but because they're not making enough money.
The bulk of for-profit hospitals close or consolidate not because they're losing money, but because they're not making enough money.
Their long term profitability models suggest consolidation, so they consolidate. And?
That's not a left/right/correct/incorrect thing, it's simple economics. Doctors are skilled laborers who seek to maximize their individual profitability (however each individual measures that) same as anyone else. Nurses, specialists (like OB/GYN) and surgeons...same exact thing. Some may value money, others might value community, and others may value the name of the building they go to work in and the prestige it confers. Who knows what each individual values most according to their own internal profitability model, but it is THEIR LABOR and THEIR KNOWLEDGE to trade/dispense of as they each choose. So if the majority of them in various smaller hospitals/clinics/etc decide their individual, rational self-interests are best served via consolidation, then they'll consolidate and that's that.
The people who provide the labor, knowledge, skills and materials for the market we call healthcare are all still free individuals who can and should do whatever their rational self-interests dictate. Are you suggesting that they no longer be free to do so?
But after the fact it becomes a lifestyle choice. And for so many conservatives it is the small town choice.
And once that choice is made, the individual can live with the positives and negatives that choice confers. If a conservative (not sure why ideology matters, but I'll play along) moves to a small town, they do so because according to their rational self-interests dictating that said choice has, on net, more positive than negative. It is not the responsibility of the remainder of society (i.e., everyone else but that individual) to minimize or eliminate downsides to individual choices.
Consider the positives:
lower cost of living
freedom from interference
more quiet
lower crime
more relaxed pace of life
etc
For those positives, one of the disadvantages is everything being 1+ hour away by car. Everything has opportunity costs, including choosing where to live. It is not the responsibility of society to minimize or defray the opportunity costs of individual decisions.
And once that choice is made, the individual can live with the positives and negatives that choice confers. If a conservative (not sure why ideology matters, but I'll play along) moves to a small town, they do so because according to their rational self-interests dictating that said choice has, on net, more positive than negative. It is not the responsibility of the remainder of society (i.e., everyone else but that individual) to minimize or eliminate downsides to individual choices.
Consider the positives:
lower cost of living
freedom from interference
more quiet
lower crime
more relaxed pace of life
etc
For those positives, one of the disadvantages is everything being 1+ hour away by car. Everything has opportunity costs, including choosing where to live. It is not the responsibility of society to minimize or defray the opportunity costs of individual decisions.
Ideology matters as conservatives tend toward the small town, liberals larger cities. So as conservatives go rural, they tend to give up on HC access.
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.