Some of the biggest losers in this economy are hospitals.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be.
You might think people aren’t getting sick as much during the recession. But what is really going on is that more and more people are losing jobs and their health insurance that went along with those jobs (so much for Ted Kennedy’s theory, eh?). And of course, even people with jobs are finding it harder to pay rising premiums.
So — they go without treatment and testing.
Turns out, hospitals need a certain number of people to fill those beds. Otherwise, they lose money.
Here’s a story about one hospital in Boston bracing for losses up to $20 million this year.
COMMENT:
When hospitals lose money, they start charging even more to the people who are sick enough to get admitted. That cost is then passed on to insurance companies, which in turn, pass on higher premium costs to their insured clients.
See? See how this game works? Funny thing though — why are people always blaming the insurance companies??
1 response so far ↓
1 Dental Corona // Jul 6, 2009 at 9:31 am
If this is the game they want us to play, then why not change the rules? Of course, people are blaming their insurance company because they immediately pay to them, not to the hospital itself. If people are to pay directly on the hospitals, it is just the same thing, they pay much higher cost than using their health care insurance. Now, this is the challenge our lawmakers have to face. They must analyze on how to make the game fair with the rules they will impose. We are hoping they can think of a better way, though.
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