More than $1.3 billion in new hospital projects may give a boost to Metro Detroit's languishing economy, but could also saddle residents with higher medical costs, according to an industry report funded by the United Auto Workers and Detroit's Big Three automakers. Workers and employers may end up paying for these projects with higher health insurance premiums, according to the report, released today by the National Institute for Health Care Reform, a Michigan nonprofit created by the UAW and the automakers. Among the projects cited is the proposed $850 million upgrade to the Detroit Medical Center's hospitals -- spending that hinges on the DMC's sale to for-profit Vanguard Health Systems -- and Henry Ford Health's planned $500 million investment to develop land south of its Detroit hospital.
