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Physician-Owned Hospitals Casualty of ObamaCare

By Philip Klein on 5.4.10 @ 11:33AM

Rob Bluey has a good piece on one of the early casualties of ObamaCare:

Physicians at McBride Orthopedic Hospital had ambitious plans for their Oklahoma City hospital before Obamacare. Two new operating rooms and a four-bed intensive-care unit were part of a multimillion-dollar expansion project that promised to bring competition and more health care choices to the community.

But once President Obama's signature was dry on the 2,409-page Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, so, too, was the McBride project. The recently enacted law imposed a series of new federal regulations on physician-owned hospitals, including an immediate ban on expansion.

"We pulled the plug when the law was signed," McBride Chief Executive MarkGalliart said. "We were ready to break ground. We had everything approved by the state. We had the construction agreement in place. We were going to meet our timeline until the legislation passed."

The plight of doctor-owned hospitals is one of the areas that was far too neglected during the health care debate. As much as Democrats holler about the skyrocking costs at hospitals, the truth is that for years they have helped to protect the big hospitals from competition from smaller, innovative, hospitals that tend to specialize in one area and can deliver more personalized service. If we wanted real choice and competition that would drive down prices and improve quality and outcomes, we'd be encouraging the development of such facilities. Instead, ObamaCare is putting them out of business.

View all comments (3) | Leave a comment

Ken (Old Texican)| 5.4.10 @ 1:01PM

If we can't get a Republican House of Reps, in November, and defund Obamadeath, the American people are going to be SHOCKED at the destruction of our national medical infrastructure that takes place.

Our new national motto will be..."Don't get sick".

Clearbrook| 5.4.10 @ 2:18PM

Truth: Doctor owned Hospitals OVERALL offer better care at more affordable prices. The fact that the Democrats killed it should send alarms off all across this nation. If they were Actually BAD, then the market forces would tend to force them out, and if special consideration and corruption of local governments were the only thing keeping them competitive, instead of the Municipal Hospitals like those in Chicago benefiting from those unfair advantages, then the press, if they were REALLY interested in protecting the people and keeping them informed, would have plenty to investigate. But instead, we see yet another part of the bill that looks like it was DESIGNED TO FAIL. The arguement will be made, mark my words, that BECAUSE of these failures (deliberately) caused by Obamacare, that we should move to ONE PAYER SYSTEM and Nationalize one Sixth of our Nations Economy in one fell swoop. WHEN that happens, DON'T believe them, because they are setting the system up for failure, whther they know it or not!

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