Illegal aliens are killing Colorado’s second-largest hospital
Unlike conservatives, who tend to be linear, simplistic thinkers, in part because conservativism is about clarity and clarity leads to an Occam’s Razor simplicity, leftists are more Machiavellian, hatching ideas that achieve multiple goals. Tha...
By Andrea Widburg
Unlike conservatives, who tend to be linear, simplistic thinkers, in part because conservativism is about clarity and clarity leads to an Occam’s Razor simplicity, leftists are more Machiavellian, hatching ideas that achieve multiple goals. That’s the case with illegal immigration: It adds probable Democrat voters (both legal and illegal), plumps up the census numbers for more representatives in the House, provides gardeners and housecleaners…and their numbers help break the system, which is the Cloward-Piven strategy to pave the way for full socialism. If the fate of Denver Health Medical Care is anything to go by, the Cloward-Piven plan is working.
Here’s what you need to know to appreciate the import of what’s happening to Denver Health. First, Colorado is a sanctuary state. Second, Denver Health is the largest hospital in Denver and the second largest in Colorado. It’s also one of only five Level I Trauma Centers in the whole state. With that in mind, here’s the story.
The Denver Post is reporting (hat tip: Legal Insurrection) that Denver Health is near the breaking point and that it cannot survive more illegal aliens. According to the report, it ended 2022 with a $35 million deficit. Although the books aren’t quite closed on 2023, the deficit was even worse last year. The only reason the hospital survived was because it got $20 million from the state, Kaiser Permanente Colorado, and private donors.
Overall, in 2023, the hospital failed to receive payment for $136 million in services provided. This amount included the gap between what the hospital charged Medicare versus what Medicare actually paid. Unfortunately for Denver Health, fewer than 15% of its patients have private insurance, which pays a greater percentage of the fee charged than Medicare does.
Because Denver Health is a public hospital, its CEO, Donna Lynne, spelled out the hospital’s dire financial state in a public appearance before the Denver City Council’s finance and government committee. The most interesting part of the statement, aside from the overall economic problems the hospital is facing, is the role of Biden’s open border:
As a general matter, our medical system is financially unsustainable. There are four major problems:
Insurance. Medical insurance was originally meant to cover emergency costs. Now, it covers everything. It’s simply a cost-shifting device. Therefore, it seriously perverts the marketplace.
In a free market, the buyer and seller find a mutually agreeable price for goods and services. However, private insurance breaks that bond. The buyer doesn’t care about the price, and the seller is engaged in a price negotiation with a company that doesn’t care about the service and, moreover, that has enormous heft. This three-way system also adds huge management costs, with entire departments in hospitals and full staff in doctor’s offices dedicated to trying to wring money from insurance companies.
To offset the fact that most insurance companies impose discounts on bills, medical providers keep raising their fees. Thus, in a free market, if they felt their service was worth $100, they’d charge $100, and the patient would pay. However, in an insurance-driven market, to get $100, they charge $200. These artificially inflated fees—which sometimes get paid in full—pervert the marketplace.
Government programs. These programs have the same pernicious effect as private insurance, only worse. For hospitals and doctors to get $100, they must charge $1,000. The perversion is even greater.
Pharmaceutical companies. Do I need to say anything about drug costs? The only thing I’ll add is that when countries with socialized medicine boast about how cheaply they sell important drugs to their citizens, remember that they’re able to do that because the same companies offset those losses by charging more in America. The money for research and development, advertising, and profits must come from somewhere.
The change in medical care. Medical care used to be a doctor, a black bag, and herbal medicines and procedures that, if they didn’t kill you, would leave you weaker. Later, care was simple but effective surgeries and miracle drugs. Now, medicine is a money-driven technological science. The technological investment in even the most pared-down doctor’s office is enormous. When you get to hospitals that must keep up with the latest machines for tests and procedures, the cost is almost incomprehensible. And again, someone has to pay.
If you add to all these economic burdens the cost of caring for millions of people who have no right to be in America, and who know that they’ll get treated for free, this fragile system cannot hold. It will collapse. And that’s what Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven dreamed of all along: They wanted to break the system and force socialism.
who you work for or who you're fucking. That's your problem. I'm usually a lurker just reading. I don't need 2000+ forum post so i can feel important. Like you're somebody. Is that 14 or 15 posts now. Getting that count up for cred. Tard
But, I’m working on some caffeine intake now, so I should be better in a bit. Carry on.
