So, a genuine look at ourselves and our economic system. -What- exactly is -This-?

[ck4829]

Some hospitals rake in high profits while their patients are loaded with medical debt

The game in this Dallas-Fort Worth suburb began with fireworks and a four-airplane flyover. A trained eagle soared over the field. And some 12,000 fans filled the team's new stadium, a $53 million colossus with the largest video screen of any high school venue in Texas. Atop the stadium was also a big name: Children's Health.

Business has been good for the billion-dollar pediatric hospital system, which agreed to pay $2.5 million to put its name on the Prosper stadium. Other Dallas-Fort Worth medical systems have also thrived. Though exempt from taxes as nonprofit institutions, several, including Children's, notched double-digit margins in recent years, outperforming many of the area's Fortune 500 companies.

But patients aren't sharing in the good times. Of the nation's 20 most populous counties, none has a higher concentration of medical debt than Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth. Second is Dallas County, credit bureau data show.

The mismatched fortunes of hospitals and their patients reach well beyond this corner of Texas. Nationwide, many hospitals have grown wealthy, spending lavishly on advertising, team sponsorships, and even spas, while patients are squeezed by skyrocketing medical prices and rising deductibles.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/09/28/1125176699/some-hospitals-rake-in-high-profits-while-their-patients-are-loaded-with-medical

So Tarrant County, the 15th most populous county in the US, a slice of American life, and this is happening...

* Patients are not sharing in the good times, it leads the country in medical debt with neighboring Dallas County, the 2nd most populous county in the state is also the 2nd county overall when it comes to medical debt

* Despite this extreme medical debt, the hospitals in the area are not suffering themselves, they are "outperforming many of the area's Fortune 500 companies" and growing quite wealthy

* And these bills and debts from "skyrocketing medical prices and rising deductibles" of these patients are not paying for cutting edge medical innovations and the eradication of diseases but for ads, team and stadium sponsorships, and for spas.

So what to make of this?

4 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	This is our economic system, and not only that, it is good. It shows who the winners are and who the losers are. It shows who is smart and who is dumb. The hospitals should be free to do what they want and patients need to pay those bills. There's always GoFundMe.
	0 (0%)
	This is our economic system, but it is not good. This slice of American life lays bare an ugly side of our economic and healthcare systems showing corruption, decadence, and abuse of those who lack resources and privilege.
	3 (75%)
	This is not our economic system, this is not the way to do things. These practices are a gross aberration of how our economic system and healthcare system works. They are an outlier and a policy failure of an otherwise effective and good system.
	0 (0%)
	This is not our economic system, this is not anything. Sui generis. Despite the demographics, what is happening in Tarrant County and Dallas County are affairs separate from everywhere and everything else. Don't connect them to anything else. Nobody should be holding this up as an example of our economy and healthcare system as a whole.
	0 (0%)
	Whatever the case, these patients need all the help and attention they can get to resist these ridiculous bills and these hospitals need to be encouraged to spend a little less resources on stadiums and a little more on treating their patients... even if that means activist and government intervention.
	0 (0%)
	It's disgusting and everything and maybe some limited reforms are necessary, but ultimately, the good these hospitals do outweighs the burdens they put on their patients.
	1 (25%)
	Sure it's horrible, but what are you gonna do? It's meaningless. Embrace dystopia. Just accept fate and roll over for the juggernaut. Sorry patients who are not sharing in the good times.
	0 (0%)
	What time's the next game at one of their stadiums? Rock, flag, and eagle. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
	0 (0%)
	Don't look / don't read / Fake news / This is "woke"/"critical race theory"/"SOCIALISM" / Talking about this is the problem / Closes tab / Hides under bed
	0 (0%)
	Other (what?)
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[ck4829]

1. Self-kick

Last edited Sat Jan 7, 2023, 04:28 AM - Edit history (1)

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