Despite the shortcomings of the NHS, as a Brit I give thanks for it every time I read something like this about U.S. healthcare. I won’t call it a system because it doesn’t qualify as one.
It is a racket which exploits illness for the benefit of insurance companies and some others involved in it. It has got no connection to the welfare of nation as the current hearing featuring the new Secretary of Health demonstrates.
I have to respectfully disagree with the last post:
From the inside (the accounts from a multitude of staff members and physicians) Bay Area Hospital has been systematically dismantled by the current administration essentially setting it up for the "license agreement", oh, and that term "limit" is 30 years, so basically a lifetime. This hospital did not fail because of market challenges, it failed because of intentionally designed incompetence. Pockets are being filled by this deal which is being pursued with blinders on. Quorum will be a disaster and the end of our institution if this deal is allowed to proceed.
Yes, violence is absolutely justified against the CEOs who are killing people in the name of profit. If we took out another 6-8 of them I bet the rest would change their business model.
I moved to Ashland from Corvallis 2yr ago. It was a full year before there were any provider openings for me. I was going to be PreMed back in '94 when I graduated HS. I spent a year doing that in Uni when I saw the writing on the wall and changed majors. Vertical profiterring and all this nonsence was clearly a Bad Idea back when it began and planty of me mentors were rightly worried. Fast forward 30years and yep, total shitshow. I quit bc I knew the system would not allow me to practice medicine to my fullest degree and thus any oath I took would be made null by the very system I worked for. That is untenable. And the juggernaut hasnt slowed at all. Did you know it is illegal for doctors to own hospitals? None of this had to happen but our society has been taught to listen to Massa for centuries, people of all colour in Murika are taught they don't matter bc only the Massa and his money does.
Happened in Corvallis, too. The Corvallis Clinic was very, very close to bankruptcy, and in a last ditch effort was taken over by Optum. Both my husband and I have worked at the clinic, as well as gotten excellent medical care for many years. But now, who knows. I do know medical staff, doctors, and support staff are trickling away.
I agree about the trends in medical care provision (or denial), but I don’t think your characterization of the Bay Area Hospital situation is accurate. First of all, it’s not a sale, it’s a license agreement with a term limit. And as the hospital has extensively documented (seek out “The Future of Bay Area Hospital” on the League of Women Voters of Coos County’s YouTube channel for the hospital’s narrative), demographic trends are relentlessly pushing against viablity for rural hospitals of BAH’s type. The hospital’s narrative is vulnerable to challenge—it made some bad financial choices and Quorum may or may not be as bad as its depiction on the Internet—but that doesn’t make alternative plans necessarily more viable. The solution can only come from the federal level with sustained support for access to medical care and reasonable reimbursement rates—but good luck with that in the current political environment. Sadly, people are going to die in the meantime.
I have several physician friends who feel the same way, sadly. Thank you for sharing.
Despite the shortcomings of the NHS, as a Brit I give thanks for it every time I read something like this about U.S. healthcare. I won’t call it a system because it doesn’t qualify as one.
It is a racket which exploits illness for the benefit of insurance companies and some others involved in it. It has got no connection to the welfare of nation as the current hearing featuring the new Secretary of Health demonstrates.
Thank you
I have to respectfully disagree with the last post:
From the inside (the accounts from a multitude of staff members and physicians) Bay Area Hospital has been systematically dismantled by the current administration essentially setting it up for the "license agreement", oh, and that term "limit" is 30 years, so basically a lifetime. This hospital did not fail because of market challenges, it failed because of intentionally designed incompetence. Pockets are being filled by this deal which is being pursued with blinders on. Quorum will be a disaster and the end of our institution if this deal is allowed to proceed.
Charles Hurbis, M.D.
Thank you! At some point I would love to sit down with you for an interview
Yes, violence is absolutely justified against the CEOs who are killing people in the name of profit. If we took out another 6-8 of them I bet the rest would change their business model.
I moved to Ashland from Corvallis 2yr ago. It was a full year before there were any provider openings for me. I was going to be PreMed back in '94 when I graduated HS. I spent a year doing that in Uni when I saw the writing on the wall and changed majors. Vertical profiterring and all this nonsence was clearly a Bad Idea back when it began and planty of me mentors were rightly worried. Fast forward 30years and yep, total shitshow. I quit bc I knew the system would not allow me to practice medicine to my fullest degree and thus any oath I took would be made null by the very system I worked for. That is untenable. And the juggernaut hasnt slowed at all. Did you know it is illegal for doctors to own hospitals? None of this had to happen but our society has been taught to listen to Massa for centuries, people of all colour in Murika are taught they don't matter bc only the Massa and his money does.
Happened in Corvallis, too. The Corvallis Clinic was very, very close to bankruptcy, and in a last ditch effort was taken over by Optum. Both my husband and I have worked at the clinic, as well as gotten excellent medical care for many years. But now, who knows. I do know medical staff, doctors, and support staff are trickling away.
I agree about the trends in medical care provision (or denial), but I don’t think your characterization of the Bay Area Hospital situation is accurate. First of all, it’s not a sale, it’s a license agreement with a term limit. And as the hospital has extensively documented (seek out “The Future of Bay Area Hospital” on the League of Women Voters of Coos County’s YouTube channel for the hospital’s narrative), demographic trends are relentlessly pushing against viablity for rural hospitals of BAH’s type. The hospital’s narrative is vulnerable to challenge—it made some bad financial choices and Quorum may or may not be as bad as its depiction on the Internet—but that doesn’t make alternative plans necessarily more viable. The solution can only come from the federal level with sustained support for access to medical care and reasonable reimbursement rates—but good luck with that in the current political environment. Sadly, people are going to die in the meantime.