"4 out of 5 hospitals would be technically bankrupt if Medicare was their only payor"

So says Harvard Pilgrim’s Charlie Baker. And in related news, Medicare for all is becoming an increasingly likely possibility.

Comments

Anonymous
Hospital accounting is a bit baffling to me. Our local non-profit posted profits (revenue exceeding expenses) of over $50 million for the first 9 months of 2008. They also just laid off 70 employees, including nurse managers, citing in the accompanying press release that the cuts were necessary to meet budget and would not affect patient care. Do non-profit hospitals normally “budget” for $50+ million in profits? Wouldn’t that suggest a problem with hospital accounting practices?
Anonymous
The total amount doesn’t tell us much since we don’t know how big of a budget your hospital has. Margins of 3-4 % are typical in my experience. No “profit” or margin is not healthy as that leaves the hospital with no resources when the new problems arise.
As the commercial payer revenue decreases due to many patients losing their coverage, the hospitals will see more Medicaid and Medicare. They’re screwed.
Once the hospitals start failing due to crappy government payments that don’t cover costs, the government will step in and “rescue” the hospitals from the financial problem the government has created. They’ll take over these hospitals and we’ll then have our own NHS (or VA for civilians) that the socialists have been dreaming about. We’re screwed.

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