Recent hospital closings and announced layoffs threaten the stability of healthcare for an increasing number of Americans. The following is a brief review. Meantime, the response of the federal government, instead of intervening to build up medical care delivery—on an emergency basis as well as long term, is to continue Federal Waiver 1355 from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. This measure, activated a year ago, allows overstretched hospitals, in the name of rationing scarce care delivery, to selectively deny care, without penalty or proper oversight.
Olympia Medical Center, (Los Angeles): The closing announcement came on New Year’s Day 2021, and despite organizing by the relevant unions, and mobilization of the population in the region to save the hospital, it closed on March 31. The hospital has been in operation since 1947 — nearly 75 years. It not only will mean the layoff of some 450 healthcare workers, but also the demographics of the hospital’s patient base show the true cost: nearly 40% are black; 63% are over the age of 60, and 90% are covered by Medicare and Medi-Cal (California’s state medical coverage for the poor or elderly).
Cancer Treatment Centers of America facility (Philadelphia): It has filed a notice to close; 365 healthcare workers to be laid off.
Saint Luke’s Health System (Kansas City, MO): The network closed two community hospitals in Overland Park, Kansas on Dec. 30.
Perry Community Hospital (Linden, TN): The facility, some 90 miles from Nashville, “temporarily” closed Nov. 27, 2020 for the second time this year.
Several other hospitals have closed in the last six months- - two in Georgia, one in Florida, and another one in Tennessee.
A site which monitors healthcare infrastructure in the U.S. KFF (kff.org, Kaiser Family Foundation) reports that the U.S. has fewer hospital beds and physicians per capita than Italy or Spain, both of which have seen their healthcare systems overwhelmed by the effects of COVID-19. Italy and Spain have 4.0 and 3.9 per 1,000 people; the U.S. has only 2.5 hospital beds. By contrast, South Korea, which shows signs of slowing the spread of the disease, has about 12 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
Additionally, the U.S. has a higher disease burden (as compared to other large, wealthy countries), which includes cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, and diabetes, as well as conditions such as obesity, which are all associated with more serious COVID-19 symptoms and outcomes.
