Socialists run out of other people’s hospital beds in Massachusetts

by philg

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money,” said Margaret Thatcher. She didn’t count on the U.S. Congress and Federal Reserve being willing to print however much was deemed necessary to achieve the ruling party’s goals.

One thing that the technocrats couldn’t print, however, is hospital beds. With just a trickle of undocumented immigrants over the past couple of years (compared to the flood that Texas has received), it seems that Massachusetts is running out of health care system capacity.

“‘Capacity disaster’: Mass. General Hospital says it needs more beds to combat ‘unprecedented crisis’” (Boston News 25):

Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston announced Friday that it has been dealing with an ongoing “capacity disaster” and that it’s in desperate need of more beds to help combat the “unprecedented crisis.”

The hospital has been operating every day for the past 16 months in “Code Help” or “Capacity Disaster” status, despite the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic being a thing of the past, a spokesperson for the medical center said.

According to the hospital, “Code Help” occurs when inpatient beds and monitored hallway stretchers are full, and “Capacity Disaster” is triggered when the emergency department is full, all hallway stretchers are being used, and there are more than 45 inpatients boarding in the emergency department awaiting a hospital bed.

What do the technocrats have to say about this kind of situation? It can all be fixed with a technocratic solution. “How to keep people out of the emergency room; Help for immigrants in arranging primary care visits leads to substantial drop in ER visits and costs, a new study shows.” (MIT News, 9/23/2023):

“This program is fairly low-touch and minimalist, yet it had a meaningful effect,” says MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, co-author of a new paper detailing the study’s results.

Separately, as the authors note in the paper, extending formal health insurance to undocumented immigrants “remains politically untenable” for the most part. On the other hand, jurisdictions might examine if other approaches increase care while, in this case, lowering emergency room traffic.

“There’s this tendency with health care to think that if you give people health insurance, you’re done,” Gruber says. “This study is saying the right system combines insurance as financial protection with other kinds of [tools].” He adds: “There is just huge potential to use data and science to get people to where they need to be in terms of getting the most efficient care.”

With data and science, all problems can be solved!

From the hospital itself…

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11 thoughts on “Socialists run out of other people’s hospital beds in Massachusetts”

  1. What a strange dichotomy, Mexico is packed with amerikans trying to get lower cost care while US is packed with illegal immigrants trying to get higher cost care.

    • LOL. One of the best comments in a while. Try sticking this to liberals and see how they will spin it.

      Btw, illegal migrants are smarter than Americans. They know by coming to the USA, they will get taken care of, that’s to “All are welcome” and “No human is illegal”. Americans on the other hand, will have to work, save some money, so they can go to Mexico for care. Americans lose, illegal migrants win.

    • Yeah, I believe a big part of Donald Trump’s appeal is that he has tapped into a dissatisfaction stemming from the sentiment that the government of the United States appears to be being run largely for the benefit of a slew of groups that do not include productive, tax-paying citizens working in the private sector.

  4. Because I believe everything “Dr” Phil says, I thought illegals already get a free house, free car, free phone, free health care, and free food — all while not paying taxes.

    The MIT paper considers extending insurance to illegals. Why would they need to consider it if, according to “Dr” Phil, they already receive it?

    • Mike: I don’t read the MIT article the way that you do. It says “The program did this without extending health insurance to anyone. Most visits had a $15 co-pay; many of New York City’s public health institutions scale costs to the patient’s ability to pay.” (as in Massachusetts, as soon as a patient utters the words “I’m undocumented”, no bill will be generated)

      Separately, I don’t think that I said that America’s noble undocumented future citizens all have health insurance, e.g., taxpayer-funded MassHealth (Medicaid). What the undocumented have is free health CARE, as close as the nearest hospital emergency department (or outpatient clinic in the NYC case).

      https://www.nbcnews.com/news/new-york-city-hospital-front-lines-migrant-crisis-rcna118369

      is a story about undocumented migrant getting taxpayer-funded organ transplants, cancer treatment, and other multi-$million services in New York. They’re also getting free legal services, according to the article, and they’re giving birth in NYC public hospitals without the inconvenience of receiving or paying a bill.

      My favorite part is the guy who has learned that health care is much cheaper in the U.S. than in Venezuela:

      “The therapies, the chemo — all of that is out of control,” [a migrant from Venezuela] said, referring to the exorbitant cost of medical care in his home country. “I would have passed away by now.”

  5. You may recall that the esteemed MIT economics Professor Jonathan Gruber, whose paper you quote is none other than one of the primary architects hired by Obama to design the disaster that is Obamacare. He’s the guy who called Americans “stupid” in multiple instances caught on video (see one link below) because the elites like Obama and Gruber were able to pass the legislation by “tricking” the public about the program. Slick Willy Obama then pretended he hardly knew the man!
    https://www.politico.com/video/2014/11/new-video-of-obamacare-architect-american-voters-are-too-stupid-001543

  6. what might preclude any “documented” American to claim the same benefits as any “undocumented” alien? start with getting a free phone, then a free hotel room, then walk into a hospital, tell them you’re Jose Noriega who just arrived from Nicaragua or Salvador and got shipped to MA from TX, and get any hospital treatment you need.

    • Or do you actually need to show some document that will prove your undocumented status, like a processing notice from the border patrol or some such?

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