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Obama's Health-Care "Reform" Will Close Your Hospital

June 7, 2009 (LPAC)—The fastest way to kill people who are sick is to close their local community hospital. That is what the HMO predatory health-care policy has done. Since 1980, over 1,000 community hospitals, or nearly 20%, were closed. Under the impetus of the Hill-Burton Act to build hospitals in every county, we reached the peak in 1980 having built 5,904 community hospitals, with almost 1 million staffed beds. We've lost 191,000 of those beds, such that only three states and the District of Columbia still meet the Hill-Burton standard of 4.5 beds per 1,000 population. State by state it is much worse.

Now the Obama Hitler health-care "reform" has sounded the death knell for these hospitals. The Obama health-care hatchet-men have declared Obama will cut up to $500 million from Medicare and Medicaid over ten years. Already as of 2007, community hospitals had a $32 billion payment shortfall relative to their costs for treating Medicare and Medicaid patients. Slashing Medicare and Medicaid payments further, as these Nazi gatekeepers intend, will put more hospitals in jeopardy, forcing them to close.

The community hospital is the place of last resort for the uninsured, Medicaid and Medicare recipients. In 2007, these hospitals cared for 121 million patients with emergency needs, performed 27 million surgeries and cared for 35 million inpatients. With tens of millions of Americans having lost their jobs and health insurance since 2007, the strain on hospitals can only have gotten worse.

But the national figures mask the real picture. Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, and Michigan have lost over 30% of their hospitals since 1980 and between 15-35% of their staffed beds. Wisconsin has lost 40% of its staffed beds. In total, 37 states have lost between 10 and 35% of their community hospitals, while 32 states have lost between 10 and 40% of their staffed beds. Here's a picture:

LOST 1980 to 2007 HOSPITALS BEDS

1 state, 40%

4 states, 30% + 12 states, 30% +

3 states, 25% + 5 states, 25% +

6 states, 20% + 3 states, 20% +

13 states, 15% + 8 states, 15% +

11 states, 10% + 3 states, 10% +

Don't have a heart attack, stroke or other health emergency because your local Emergency Department has probably closed. Even if your hospital is still hanging on, its ED may have closed, requiring you to drive tens to hundreds of miles to the nearest one. Minutes means lives saved or lost. In 1990 there were almost 87 million visits to EDs, and by 2007 it was 121 million, almost a 40% increase, while hundreds of EDs were closed. Between 2007 and 2009 it can only have gotten worse. No wonder Dr. Guy Clifton of Texas, warning of the threat to life due to insufficient ED capacity told the Washington Post, "Get sick on a bad day, and you're dead."


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