Hospitals have gotten too big for their britches. They are not the poor suffering angels of mercy they pretend to be. Antitrust violations, gobbling up independent providers, and mission creep number among the ways hospitals, aided by Obamacare, are pushing American medicine in the wrong direction. Data points from just one week in April:
FTC: Chicagoans to pay $45M/yr more if 2 biggest hospitals merge. #RevokeHospitalTaxExemptions
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160414/NEWS07/160419908/ftc-expert-warns-of-higher-costs-from-northshore-advocate-merger
Two West Virginia hospitals settle antitrust claims they divided territory, didn’t compete. #Hospitrosses
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160414/NEWS/160419945/justice-department-alleges-two-west-virginia-hospitals-illegally
Hospitals flout rules, routinely double-book unsafe concurrent surgeries. #RapaciousHospitals
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/04/13/surgery/Jn7Lb0Hq3VUGeZGBgjiw0M/story.html
Public medicine, hospital monopolies squeezing independent private practice docs out of Vermont
http://watchdog.org/261960/vermont-health-care-professionals-dissatisfied/
Hospitals becoming business incubators. Do u want to pay on your hospital bill for giving money to start-ups?
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20160409/MAGAZINE/304099982
I don’t know about you, but I object to paying for community gardens on my hospital bill. #MissionCreep
http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2016/04/05/hospitals-engagement-in-population-health-moving-past-the-medicine-and-into-the-community/
Pres. Obama took the credit when #Obamacare passed. So he can take the blame for everything that’s going wrong with it.