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The hospital in the rural area I grew up in closed it's doors two years ago. The tribal politics in the comments here are obnoxious and myopic. Rural hospital
by JPKab 7y ago
The hospital in the rural area I grew up in closed it's doors two years ago.
The tribal politics in the comments here are obnoxious and myopic.
Rural hospitals are receiving the majority of their money from Medicare and Medicaid. They don't pay enough. There was a great NPR show on this a few weeks ago.
Hospitals in the US overcharge (cost shifting is the technical term) patients with private insurance to offset losses from offering services at below cost to Medicare/Medicaid patients.
Too few private insurance patients means they close their doors.
- dd36 7y agoOr there’s just not enough volume in rural hospitals and reimbursement rates have to be higher than in denser areas to break even.
- 0xB31B1B 7y agoThat’s not the issue, the issue is that rural areas are also much older on average and have a much higher proportion of patients on Medicare.
- bwb 7y agoCould easily be both too, doesn't have to be just one. Not to mention many other things happening in rural issues that might be driving issues. Long live nuance.
- astronautjones 7y agoall of these points are irrelevant if the government is running the hospital. it shouldn't have to be profitable.