The sputtering Michigan economy is dragging down the state's healthcare system, offering a preview of how a lingering recession could corrode U.S. hospitals, savings, and health. Years of auto-industry layoffs and benefit cuts to white-collar retirees have left hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents without employer-provided health coverage. To adapt, individuals are drawing down savings to fund their own insurance, going without treatments or tests, or leaning on the state.
At a time President Obama is pressing Congress to radically overhaul the nation's healthcare system with an eye to affordable insurance for everyone, a company called Doctors Express is trying to launch the nation's first urgent-care franchise. The company applies a model often associated with fast food and car repair to centers that would deliver affordable, non-emergency treatment to almost anyone who walks in.
A Doral, FL, company is suing the Turks and Caicos government, alleging the distressed British colony has not paid $16 million in South Florida medical bills for its citizens. The lawsuit was filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court by Southern Health Network, which had a contract to arrange healthcare for seriously ill Turks and Caicos citizens who couldn't get proper treatment in the islands.
As a nation, Americans pay more per capita, through government programs and out-of-pocket, for healthcare than almost any other country but without achieving better health. But the U.S. isn't the only country looking for a better way to provide care. Foreign health plans also struggle to make ends meet, to improve care, and to tame public bureaucracies.
Massachusett-based Caritas Christi Health Care System has fired back at a former executive who sued the hospital system for slashing his severance package. In a court filing, Caritas Christi said it was justified in canceling a nine-month, $250,000 consulting agreement with Michael Metzler, the former president of Caritas's St. Anne's Hospital in Fall River, because he failed to promptly report a discrimination complaint.
It is gamble that no one will be hurt as nurses with histories of drug abuse, negligence, violence and incompetence continue to provide care across California, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times. While the inquiries drag on, many nurses maintain spotless records while new employers and patients have no way of knowing the risks.