@thebellsareringing I believe illegal immigration is more of a political talking point, as there are so many uninsured Americans in the US now. Illegals are just a scapegoat for our under funded medical and overpriced insurance.In reality though the ER’s are overloaded, their overhead costs (i.e. rent, salaries) are fixed (sure there are costs associated with a la cart laboratory testing, but this is minor, as most going to an ER can be resolved with stiches or antibotics).
The real result of overloading the ER is the wait time, which though bad for customer service (10 patients vs 100 will increase the wait time from minutes to hours), it doesn’t mean the ER is costing the hospital 10x.The real issue facing hospitals isn’t the rising cost, but lack of income from the their elective surgeries, due to staffing shortage. Pre Covid there may have been 10 ORs running from 7AM till 10PM every day, but if there aren’t enough doctors, nurses and other support staff, the hospital may be running at a fraction of that capacity, which then may not over the overhead for that department, let alone fund other departments, like the ER, which is a cost as a social service.
The real result of overloading the ER is the wait time, which though bad for customer service (10 patients vs 100 will increase the wait time from minutes to hours), it doesn’t mean the ER is costing the hospital 10x.The real issue facing hospitals isn’t the rising cost, but lack of income from the their elective surgeries, due to staffing shortage. Pre Covid there may have been 10 ORs running from 7AM till 10PM every day, but if there aren’t enough doctors, nurses and other support staff, the hospital may be running at a fraction of that capacity, which then may not over the overhead for that department, let alone fund other departments, like the ER, which is a cost as a social service.