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A report released last week by the Washington State Hospital Association indicates that virtually every hospital in the state is in financial trouble. (here) A recent survey revealed that hospital revenues were up five percent from 2021 to 2022, yet expenses rose 11 percent over the same time period. This is unsustainable. Several, if not many, hospitals are at risk of closing if these losses continue for another year. This includes both rural and urban facilities. Executives give a number of reasons for the financial...
By The United States has a unique health care delivery system. Unlike other industrialized countries which all have some form of top-down, government-run system, the structure of medical care in the U.S. has evolved organically over the past 80 years. Half of all Americans receive their health insurance from their employer or their spouse’s employer. Over 40 percent of Americans receive their health insurance from the government through Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare. Advocates of a single-payer system in the U.S. b...
Regardless of a person’s political views, we can all agree that rising cost is a major problem with our health care system. Last year, Americans spent 18 percent of our economy, or $3.6 trillion, on health care. The ever-increasing cost curve would suggest that by the 2030s the country will spend 30 percent of our gross domestic product on medical treatments. Extensive research has been done to identify unnecessary care and wastefulness in the system. Estimates vary, but from 20 percent to 30 percent of health care in the U...
The treatment of mentally ill patients has undergone radical changes in the past 150 years, and not always for the better. Unfortunately, public health treatment remains grossly underfunded and consequently care is fragmented and places a huge social burden on American communities. People with mental illnesses range from perfectly functional individuals, to those with severe disabilities who are unable to care for themselves. The role of government is to serve as a safety-net and to help dysfunctional, impaired people who may...
Everyone agrees the rising cost of health care in the United States is unsustainable. Last year Americans spent $2.4 trillion, or nearly 18 percent of our gross domestic product, on health care. Frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals contribute significantly to these rising costs, with estimates as high as 10 to 20 percent of added health care costs caused by the legal system. In many states, health care lawsuit reform, that is, reasonable limits placed on the cost of lawsuits, has helped hold costs down and...
