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Some years ago, the Nobel-laureate economist Milton Friedman studied the history of healthcare supply in America. In a 1992 study published by the Hoover Institution, entitled "Input and Output in Health Care," Friedman noted that 56 percent of all hospitals in America were privately owned and for-profit in 1910. After 60 years of subsidies for government-run hospitals, the number had fallen to about 10 percent. It took decades, but by the early 1990s government had taken over almost the entire hospital industry. That small portion of the industry that remains for-profit is regulated in an extraordinarily heavy way by federal, state and local governments so that many (perhaps most) of the decisions made by hospital administrators have to do with regulatory compliance as opposed to patient/customer service in pursuit of profit. It is profit, of course, that is necessary for private-sector hospitals to have the wherewithal to pay for healthcare.
Friedman's key conclusion was that, as with all governmental bureaucratic systems, government-owned or -controlled healthcare created a situation whereby increased "inputs," such as expenditures on equipment, infrastructure, and the salaries of medical professionals, actually led to decreased "outputs" in terms of the quantity of medical care. For example, while medical expenditures rose by 224 percent from 1965–1989, the number of hospital beds per 1,000 population fell by 44 percent and the number of beds occupied declined by 15 percent. Also during this time of almost complete governmental domination of the hospital industry (1944–1989), costs per patient-day rose almost 24-fold after inflation is taken into account.
buster2010
The reason why a lot of hospitals are listed as non profit is so they can file for government aid. As long as they provide medical care to a certain percentage of poor they get money and tax breaks. All of these hospitals are privately owned.edit on 4-1-2014 by buster2010 because: (no reason given)
buster2010
The reason why a lot of hospitals are listed as non profit is so they can file for government aid. As long as they provide medical care to a certain percentage of poor they get money and tax breaks. All of these hospitals are privately owned.edit on 4-1-2014 by buster2010 because: (no reason given)
Total Number of All U.S. Registered * Hospitals
5,723
Number of U.S. Community ** Hospitals
4,999
Number of Nongovernment Not-for-Profit Community Hospitals
2,894
Number of Investor-Owned (For-Profit) Community Hospitals
1,068
Number of State and Local Government Community Hospitals
1,037
rickymouse
One of the major reason that healthcare is so expensive is because of the high cost of medical equipment and technology. They do not need things that are rarely used otherwise people go for testing when it is not necessary. A doctor can fabricate a possible disease to create a need for some test. They do it to make sure that enough people use the services and this supports the technicians and helps pay for the equipment. Half these things are not needed and the diagnosis is not right.