The Morning Report
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Over half of all California hospitals are operating in the red, far from being financially healthy. Because there is no public hospital in San Diego, private hospitals provide care to many uninsured and Medi-Cal patients. Medi-Cal doesn’t begin to cover the costs of caring for these patients, and hospitals have to find other ways to cover the uninsured which is becoming more and more difficult.
Unfunded mandates such as seismic compliance (which could run as much as $110 billion), unreimbursed emergency room care ($6.5 billion last year alone) and add to the problem. Just as our state’s population is growing, access to hospital services is decreasing. Over 70 hospitals have closed in California in the past decade.
Hospitals simply can’t continue to lose 40 cents of every dollar of service they provide.
— STEVEN ESCOBOZA