The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is being sued by Boston Medical Center for not being reimbursed fully for indigent health care.
The hospital, Boston Medical Center, faces a $38 million deficit for the fiscal year ending in September, its first loss in five years. The suit says the hospital will lose more than $100 million next year because the state has lowered Medicaid reimbursement rates and stopped paying Boston Medical “reasonable costs” for treating other poor patients.
“We filed this suit more in sorrow than in anger,” said Elaine Ullian, the hospital’s chief executive. “We believe in health care reform to the bottom of our toes, but it was never, ever supposed to be financed on the backs of the poor, and that’s what has happened in Massachusetts.”
The central charge in the suit is that the state has siphoned money away from Boston Medical to help pay the considerable cost of insuring all but a small percentage of residents. Three years after the law’s passage, Massachusetts has the country’s lowest percentage of uninsured residents: 2.6 percent, compared with a national average of 15 percent.
Low-income residents, who have benefited most from expanded access to health care, receive state-subsidized insurance, one of the most expensive aspects of the state plan. But rapidly rising costs and the battered economy have caused more problems than the state and supporters of the 2006 law — including Boston Medical — anticipated.
There’s an old axiom of home lending that a house payment should not be 25 or 30% of gross income because of the vagaries of salaries, employment, health, etc. I love the fact that Mass. (thanks Romney!) has committed itself so fully that it can’t handle the expense anymore given the economy, etc. Here’s the money quote for me:
State officials expressed surprise at the lawsuit, saying that Boston Medical received $1.5 billion in state funds in the past year and should not be seeking more in the midst of a fiscal crisis.
“At a time when everyone funded and served by state government is being asked to do more with less, B.M.C. has been treated no differently,” said Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, the state secretary of health and human services, in a prepared statement. “We are confident that the administration’s actions in this area comply with all applicable law and will be upheld.”
Translation… you’ll take what you get and like it. Yeah we made a commitment to you, but in this case we will tax you without your permission and hold you liable for those services we think you should cut. If the administrators and doctors of Boston Medical didn’t have the money to pay their taxes could they send in 64 cents on the dollar? Not bloody likely.
And then there’s this:
State officials have suggested that Boston Medical could reduce costs by operating more efficiently. The state has also pointed out that the hospital has reserves of about $190 million, but Tom Traylor, the hospital’s vice president of federal and state programs, said the reserves could only sustain the hospital for about a year.
Provide less service and since we can’t meet our commitments you can also use your savings to provide the coverage we mandated and promised to pay for. We’re good for it — we promise. Is there uninsured government insurance?
“State officials have suggested that Boston Medical could reduce costs by operating more efficiently.”
Yeah. And they would know.
I don’t have anything worthwhile to add to this, but I just want to comment that it’s always nice to see a Judge Smail’s quote in a Post title.
Strike that, the more I think about it I think the Smail’s quote is, “You’ll get nothing and like it.”
yes, it’s you’ll get nothing and like it. At least that’s what we quote to the kids.
Tsk, tsk.
I know, E.P. That was a huge miss on my part. Made all the worse by Tracy being the one who corrected me. A guy misquoting “Caddyshack” is akin to a woman not knowing her shoe size.
Don’t worry. I know the drill. I can’t sit at the cool kids’ table for at least a week. I’m shuffling off now to eat my braunschweiger sandwich with Scott M., BarryO and Fritz. I hope BarryO doesn’t bring up the All Star game to Scott…
I’m not cool? I thought I was cool. I think you’re confusing not cool with being old and crusty.
Don’t forget, Rufus, I have Floyd on retainer. Or he’s wearing retainers, or something. I forget.
I would hope you could afford better council than Floyd, and if Floyd’s old man had paid for a retainer when he was a kid maybe he’d have a better looking mug and could be a millionaire slip and fall specialist, like John Edwards.
If you do find you need a good firm on retainer allow me to recommend, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel.
No Fritz, you’re cold, as in, “it’s cold in here, someone get me a sweater”. (Eddie Murphy anyone?)
Fritz, you know I think old = fabulous and wise but I’m loving messing with you, right? I can’t think otherwise seeing as old is coming fast upon me.
Tracy, I’m not old yet, but instead of creeping up on me, old age is now running at me headlong!
Judge Smail…LOL! Hi Rufus!
Hey, Steph! Good to be back! How’s CA treating you? You’ve got to like the humidity in comparison to FL…
Its awesome. But dang its expensive. We are def. commisary shoppers.
Unbridled enthusiasm for “feel good” projects always leads to unbridled remorse because of all those pesky variables out there. Sadly, a lot of the time the remorse is not on the shoulders of those who come up with all this. It falls to those “victimized” by it.
My favorite Judge quote:
“There’s a lot of you guys that find God at the Sixth Avenue Jail. Therefore I must conclude he lives there. I’m going to send you back there so he can keep an eye on you.”
Judge Ralph Moody at a bail hearing in Anchorage in the 60’s or 70’s.
I’d like to believe that Romney’s goal all along was to force the collapse of the idea of gov’t “single-payer” type health care, but I know that’s not the case. He is a leader of the Stupid Party, after all.
Okay, what is the national average of uninsured? I’ve seen a wide variety of numbers, this article claims 15%. If anyone knows where people come up with these statistics I’d like to know.
Skip… I’ve heard that only 3% are truly uninsured. The rest are either voluntarily uninsured or are between jobs…. and will have insurance within 6 months or so on average. I’ll have to find the source, but that sounds realistic.
So government got involved and things became more convoluted? There seems there is a lesson there somewhere …