{news} Hospitals are in critical condition

[clifford thornton]

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http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=20900<http://www.rep-am.com/story.php?id=20900>
Hospitals are in critical condition

Friday, March 16, 2007 



Copyright © 2007 Republican-American 

If Connecticut's health-care industry isn't in crisis, it's pretty darn close. Doctors face soaring malpractice-insurance premiums and criminally low government reimbursements for treating the poor and uninsured. And like all other businesses, they are confronted daily with high costs associated with legislative and gubernatorial micromanagement of the private sector. Among the consequences: The state's 7,000 physicians treat fewer HUSKY and Medicaid patients every year because reimbursements don't come close to meeting their actual expenses. 


 The state's 31 hospitals are in worse shape. While facing the same issues as doctors, they had a combined revenue shortfall last year of $280 million. At least four hospitals are teetering on insolvency and all are struggling financially, primarily because government reimbursements for treating the uninsured, including those who can afford insurance but choose not to buy it, cover just 70 percent of their costs. Connecticut hospitals essentially are required to provide $362 million a year in unreimbursed care, but the state shorts them $238 million annually. That forces them to dip into and often exhaust reserves for maintenance and equipment purchases. 

It is not hyperbole to say the state and federal governments force doctors and hospitals to subsidize HUSKY and Medicaid. 

Apparently oblivious to the health-care industry's financial plight, Democratic lawmakers would make matters worse with a health-insurance system run by the government. Their $900 million "universal" plan would be reserved for their patrons and financed primarily with a 3 percent tax that would confiscate $600 million a year from physicians. They would make it more palatable, they say, by raising HUSKY and Medicaid reimbursements by $500 million -- half coming from the feds. But the net loss for doctors still would be $100 million, and no one is guaranteeing the extra $500 million will be available after 2007-08. The tax would mean doctors would be even more reluctant to see HUSKY and Medicaid patients, thus defeating the whole purpose of "universal" care.

Other plans floating around the Capitol would not be as costly, but in some form or fashion would inflict further damage on the health-care industry. Before lawmakers even think about embarking on universal health care or imposing more unreimbursed expenses on doctors and hospitals, they must shore up the existing system and make sure the state pays its fair share. 



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