Like many, I am worried about the Chester River Hospital.
No, due to recent personal experience I am not worried about the quality of care. Late last month on a Friday afternoon I had to be rushed to the Chester River Hospital with severe abdominal pain. The emergency room physician Dr. Davis promptly diagnosed the situation as probable appendicitis. I was given a CAT scan on site, which confirmed the diagnosis. Dr. Johnson, the surgeon on call, came in from his home and successfully operated that evening starting at about 9:00 pm. The post-operation nursing staff took excellent care of me for the next three days and nights (including a very helpful patient assistant, Jim Simmons). You could not get better and more personal medical treatment anywhere.
My concern is about the continued financial viability of a full service community hospital like the wonderful one we have here in Kent County. In a time of rapidly rising health costs and reductions in government spending for the healthcare of the needy, I don’t see how the Chester River Hospital can survive in our small, rural, stable, and relatively poor county. I can’t imagine that it can continue to afford to take care of all the underinsured and uninsured, and absorb the costs of the cutbacks in reimbursement rates under Medicare and Medicaid that are contained in current budget proposals. Consolidation into a regional medical system with drastic cutbacks in services seems inevitable under the medical financing system we now have. I draw your attention to David Ignatius’ article in the April 1st Washington Post Op-Ed section at page A19, in which he quotes the chief executive of the Cleveland Clinic as saying that “small and inefficient community hospitals – one U.S. official estimates that up to 1,000 [such] hospitals should be closed”.
Under the 2010 Healthcare Act, essentially everyone who shows up at the emergency room of the Chester River Hospital would have adequate healthcare insurance and the hospital would be adequately reimbursed. That would give our hospital a lot better chance of survival than the present situation.
I hope that in the course of the debate over legitimate concerns about personal freedom and the proper role of government in our lives, we do not forget that overturning or repeal of the 2010 Healthcare Act could have a drastic affect on our local Kent County medical services. In the pursuit of freedom of choice and freedom from government control, we may well find ourselves in Kent County with the choices of driving to Christiana, or to Easton, or to Annapolis, for substantially all our medical care. That would not be a very good range of choices.
Kirk Wade
Chestertown, Maryland
Gren Whitman says
Exactly what would replace the Affordable Care Act if it is found unconstitutional is a mystery. The Obama administration appears to have no back-up plan and Republicans have steadfastly refused to offer any proposal for expanding health coverage. One problem is that before Barack Obama became president, Republicans were the primary supporters of an individual mandate, viewing it is as a more market-oriented way of expanding health coverage without a completely government-run health system. Indeed, Mitt Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, established a healthcare system in Massachusetts, where he was governor, that is virtually identical to the national system created by Mr Obama. (Excerpted from Bruce Bartlett’s “The folly at the heart of the U.S. health care debate”)
Muriel Cole says
You have articulated the same concerns that I have. Thank you, Kirk, for sharing your views. As we baby-boomers rapidly reach our senior years, we are going to put more demands on health care facilities. We need to be cognizant and pro-active in our support for the Chester River Hospital.
Margie Elsberg says
Your recent personal experience is what Chester River Hospital is all about, and your advice on the need for the 2010 Healthcare Act is right on target. Both are examples of the American way, neighbors helping neighbors, and the new law is designed to make it possible for our community hospital to continue serving out community. Thank you, Kirk, for an excellent letter.
Stephen Meehan says
Kirk – Glad to hear that you lived to tell this important story . . . and to join the rest of us Democrats in turning back Mitt Romney and Andy Harris and their threat to return to the old days of health care uncertainty for many in our own community.
Stephan Sonn says
The issue is timeliness of treatment.
Birth and certain other other healthcare needs
cannot be placed in a holding pattern.
Whatever the fate of Chester Hospital
emergency care must be on target and constant.
Under no circumstances should availability
be downgraded to variable amenity.