Hospitals Are in the Money Business, Not the Healthcare Business

Hospitals across Chicago and the rest of Illinois keep consolidating and becoming part of bigger profit-generating corporations, which is severely affecting Medicaid patients in our area. A lot of people in Chicago and Illinois are on Medicaid due to their low incomes.

While that should not matter when it comes to receiving proper medical treatment, you may be surprised at how much it can actually play a part in a person obtaining the medical attention they need and their medical conditions becoming worse. Unfortunately, these hospitals are only interested in getting money instead of focusing on treating and taking care of the sick and injured patients regardless of how they plan to pay.

The current issue at hand

Many states across the United States, including Illinois, are dealing with this alarming issue. According to an article published by Vox, more hospitals are becoming privately owned, which is hurting low-income and poor patients. From 1983 to 2019, public hospitals “declined by 42 percent.” This is a frightening trend when you think about all the poor patients who will be and have already been turned away because the privately-owned hospitals do not want to take anyone who is on Medicaid. The article explains that “when private companies assume control of public hospitals, low-income patients on Medicaid lose access to healthcare.

In 2023 alone, there were around 4 million people on Medicaid in Illinois. Since there are 12.8 million people who currently live in Illinois, about one-third of the state’s population is on Medicaid. Therefore, when looking at this upsetting trend, it is obvious that many residents in Chicago and Illinois will continue to be affected by hospitals choosing to go private.

What are the consequences of hospital privatizations?

Several researchers from various colleges looked at data and created a paper on the privatization of hospitals, which provides an in-depth look at what happens when hospitals become owned by private companies. One of the first effects of going private is that the hospitals do bring in more profit. Public hospitals typically lose around $335 for every patient they see and treat, while private hospitals earn around $740 for every patient they see and treat. Therefore, it is obvious why a hospital would choose to go private, if you are looking at it as a money-making business instead of a healthcare-providing business.

However, these hospitals that are becoming privately owned and making more profit are not taking the time or initiative to develop more efficient operation systems to help them treat all patients without losing money. Instead, they are denying low-income and poor patients the access to healthcare, getting rid of a lot of their staff members who assist with administrative and support tasks, and reducing their capacity and patient volume.

According to the research paper, the hospitals that became private experienced an 8.4 percent reduction in patient volume. The Medicaid and Medicare patients admitted into these hospitals decreased by 20 percent. As a result, “these patterns are consistent with private owners wanting to reduce the share of Medicaid and Other patients at their hospital in order to increase mean revenue per patient.” The term “other patients” refers to those who are uninsured or have private insurance coverage.

While the Medicaid patients can still go to other public hospitals nearby, the goal of Medicaid is to ensure that everyone, including low-income and poor people, have access to the medical care they need when they need it. Therefore, the obvious decline and turning away Medicaid patients in these private hospitals negatively affects that goal. The researchers pointed out that “privatization therefore emerges as a channel that may curb utilization of care by Medicaid beneficiaries.”

Recently, it was reported that Medicaid now covers over 90 million people across the United States. However, regardless of these rising high numbers, there has not been an increase in Medicaid patients being admitted into hospitals. The reason for this is likely because hospitals that are experiencing privatization are deciding not to renew their contracts with Medicaid, getting rid of some of their specific healthcare services that Medicaid patients mostly use, or are simply refusing to admit any patients who need to pay with Medicaid.

Although Medicaid is not perfect, it is a necessity to those who do not bring in much income. Chicago is one of the most expensive cities to live in. Therefore, if a Chicago resident is working day in and day out to try to make ends meet and their child becomes very ill, they should be able to use their Medicaid coverage to ensure that their child has access to adequate healthcare, but instead, they will now have to jump through more hoops to find a doctor or hospital that will accept their Medicaid and treat their sick child.

Why this issue is important to us

This issue is very important to us because as personal injury lawyers based in Chicago, we know that many residents will need medical attention and treatment at some point in their lives due to injuries or illnesses that they didn’t even cause or contribute to. Therefore, we are dedicated to working with accident victims who may be denied everything but emergency care. When this happens, injuries and illnesses may be exacerbated because the accident victim is unable to find a doctor or hospital who will accept their form of payment and provide the necessary care that they deserve. As a result, this can lead to long-term complications and disabilities, which can affect them and their families for the rest of their lives.

If you were turned away by a hospital and your health condition became worse, the medical malpractice or personal injury attorneys at Gainsberg Injury and Accident Lawyers can help. We will review the facts and details of your case, investigate what happened, ensure that you are aware of your rights, and stand up and fight for the compensation you need to cover your losses. Call our office or submit our contact form to schedule a free and confidential consultation with a member of our team today.