In the News

It's a bit surreal to hear my mother's hospital mentioned in the news. I read about yesterday and this morning I heard about it on NPR.

Her hospital is suing the federal government over a small rider in the new health care package which limits the growth of physician-owned hospitals. Someone - lobbyists, I suppose - had it out for this small minority of hospitals that they see only as "for profit hospitals." My mother's hospital is directly affected as they were about to start a large expansion project. Now, under the new federal guidelines, they are not allowed to add any more beds to their facility.

What people don't seem to understand about these "evil" hospitals who seek only money (ridiculous!) is that these they, statistically, provide better care and have a lower infection rate than public hospitals. They also have to pay taxes - of every kind - unlike public hospitals, which makes a serious dent in that so-called "profit."

In the town where my mother's hospital is located, there are two huge "public" hospitals, both of which have expanded to the degree of being monstrous institutions. They set up clinics hundreds of miles away from their hospital base and expand their main hospitals to include a dozen city blocks. My mother's hospital provides extraordinary care in one small niche of medicine and they occupy one city block. They are not a huge company, bringing in millions of dollars each year.....like the other two "public" hospitals.

Under the current health care guidelines, those huge hospitals would only get bigger, would build more parking garages where you must pay to park, add one more bed to that two-bed room, and hire more ER doctors who operate on six hours of sleep every thirty-six hours. Why stomp out the little man? Why not let these small hospitals provide excellent care?

I'll tell you one thing.... If I have an emergency, I'm going to a private hospital where there will be no lines, no worn out physicians, and one patient per room.