I think one of the biggest problems with public hospitals closing is the fact that so many of the poverty-stricken citizens have none, or very limited options, when it comes to accessing care. This is a result of many factors, mainly cost of procedures, transportation and time efficiency of the private hospitals. Although hospital administrators or clinicians wouldn't want to admit it, there are certain "types" of patients that get in to see the doctor before others-and this is not always based on the severity of their condition.
Public hospitals do our country a great service in taking all patients, regardless of insurance or income level. That is a huge part of why ERs are overflowing-because those patients who can't pay are automatically pushed into these waiting rooms. What many people fail to acknowledge, however, is that eventually these patients are seen and given care. That cannot be said for private hospitals. It may not be common yet private hospital ERs do turn patients away due to insurance purposes.
I have personally experienced the problems of the private hospital system. Working as an EMT in a city, there has been more than one occasion that we were in route to a private hospital with a patient and had to turn all the way around, across town and out of the way to the public just because the patient couldn't afford care. That is absurd. I understand and agree that when you are making an appointment to see a doctor or specialist, they need to be covered by your insurance. But how can anyone turn away a person in an emergency situation all because of costs?? Maybe this is something that needs to be changed among all Emergency Rooms in both public and private hospitals. Would clinicians and hospital administrators rather have deaths than care for those who simply have the wrong insurance???