Here in Germany, we have similar problems. There's a combination of causes... and probably they're also applicable for the US: - rising costs of energy (elect

Here in Germany, we have similar problems. There's a combination of causes... and probably they're also applicable for the US: - rising costs of energy (electricity, gas) - decades of underfunding of building construction and maintenance, leading to a massive backlog of issues - same for IT - modern machinery (ultrasounds, MRTs, CTs) costs immense amounts of money - general staff shortages that need to be filled via expensive temp-staffing agencies on one side and cause wage rises for those employees that remain - as a result of that, beds have to be marked as "inoperative" and they don't generate income, whereas the expenses keep piling up (there finally are reform plans to pay hospitals for providing beds, but it's a ... let's say toxic minefield) - rising costs of administrative bullshit and legal compliance - insurances being utterly ridiculous regarding payments, both In the US, I'd add "more and more people unable to pay", which leads to the cost of care for these people being redistributed to everyone else.