Oregon Hospitals Rising Costs

Oregon hospitals have been experiencing investment losses and are expecting a rough year ahead. This article from The Oregonian describes the increasing costs for hospitals as more and more people are having difficulty affording medical insurance.

Hospital costs increased 40% between 2004 and 2008. Insurance companies have made their premiums higher due to, according to them, the fact that hospital costs are increasing. The article states that congress is working towards bringing these outrageous costs down so that insurance can again become affordable for most people.

We seem to be caught in an endless downward spiral. The problem is that so many people with serious medical problems have no way to pay their hospital bills and the only way that hospitals seem to know how to face the problem is by raising costs and making cuts. Oregon's hospitals have recently refrained from buying too much new equipment and have let many of their staff go. Salem hospital is making 9.3 million dollars in cuts due to their losses in the last year.

Needless to say, this is a huge issue. The small changes that people have been trying to make in order to fix the financial situation has not helped enough. Most people today cannot afford insurance and less people are going to the hospital for smaller injuries. However, in many cases their injuries and sicknesses only get worse so that by the time they finally do go to the hospital it will cost a lot more to help them.

Health care is the topic of many debates today and no one can seem to agree on how to fix it. One thing that most people agree on is that some change, big or small, needs to be made.