[netmilsmom]

>>While I do not agree with any of Obama’s rules, I do believe that this type of thing should be a teaching moment for entities which accept federal funds but have disagreements with the strings attached to those funds. Find a way to cut the cord. <<

Maybe I don’t understand.
What kind of federal money are they taking?

If it is Medicaid, then what you are saying is that the Hospitals should treat patients for free. Because they are required by law to treat anyone who walks into their emergency room. A woman in labor, a kid with a broken arm, or a drug overdose, they are required to stabilize that patient or treat if life threatening.

If they don’t take Medicaid, they get nothing.

I was the Office Manager for the head Psych in a Cleveland hospital. His treatment cost 120.00 an hour, but because he was the Head Psych, he was passed all Medicaid patients. There was a huge amount of paperwork connected to them and we saw 60.00 on each. After they were stabilized, we could pass them onto the Charity Hospital for long term treatment (which was a Catholic Hospital, btw) Many times, a slip in the paperwork (or a whim from the government) meant that we had to resubmit with more paperwork and after the third try, we let it go and wrote it off.

How much free work should be required by a Catholic Hospital? I say, close them. My check to my parish pays for them. Let the Medicaid patients go somewhere else.

[Just A Nobody]

Would not medicare/caid payments be for services rendered?
Why would that qualify as federal funds?
Are those payments for services the only federal funds the hospitals receive?

[pnh102]

Because they are required by law to treat anyone who walks into their emergency room.

From what I know that only applies to hospitals which accept government money of any sort. If a hospital is 100% private (there are some) then they are not subject to this requirement.

[Chickensoup]

they should close and reopen as self insured mutual aid entities