It’s now more than three years and counting since the old San Jose Medical Center was closed, and it’s still getting kicked around in a game of political soccer. Corporate owner Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), who abruptly closed downtown’s only emergency room hospital in December 2004, citing profitability concerns as the reason, wants to pull down the building, sell off the land for development, and walk away with a bucket of gold, leaving all responsibility behind. However, the city council will not approve a rezoning of the site to facilitate the demolition and sale of the land until they have a deal on a location for a new downtown clinic. What’s more, the nearest hospital to downtown, HCA’s Regional Medical Center, has stopped accepting Medi-Cal, making the situation doubly troubling for patients who depend on it and who must travel even further out of the area for care to the county’s Valley Medical Center.
HCA is responsible for the lack of adequate healthcare facilities downtown because of their callous decision to close the hospital with little advance notice and without taking a lead in finding an alternative operator or replacement site and plan beforehand. They need to be held accountable. The city council is right in not allowing the demolition or sale of the land until such time as there is a deal on the replacement. If HCA wants to expedite the matter, why don’t they become actively involved in finding a replacement for their facility?
This is just another instance of how corporate-controlled healthcare for profit has failed us in San Jose and in our country. HCA’s and the other healthcare and insurance giants’ responsibility to provide for the needs of citizens requiring medical attention is way down their list of corporate priorities, coming well after the bottom line and pleasing their shareholders. I understand that that’s the way big-board businesses operate, but that isn’t the way healthcare should operate. America is the only developed country in the world where this is the case.
As long as we remain under the thumb of the HCAs of this country, we will have a second-class healthcare system at best for all except the wealthy. Fortunately, the latest polls show that a large majority of voters, doctors and nurses now support the creation of a national universal healthcare system. This is a big shift from just a few years ago and it’s about time. The problem, as always, is that our elected officials are still stuffing their pockets with money from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Hopefully, the voters in this country, many of whom are rightly disgusted with the treatment Americans receive from insurance companies, will soon change that dynamic.
Then we can throw HCA and the rest of their ilk out on their keisters and fund a new state-of-the-art hospital under the auspices of a national health service that puts people first. Meanwhile, we have no hospital downtown, so let them sit on their property and sweat it out until we do.
Thanks for the post, Jack. I’m sure many people are not conversant with regional health care issues, so it wouuld be helpful if we could explain why a hospital on the downtown site is important for local residents, and why hospitals outside the downtown core are unable to pick up the slack. If I remember correctly, HCA is saying there’s a hospital a few miles from downtown which could address downtown resident’s needs. Thanks.
There have long been too many hospital beds in SC County. Ask anyone in the industry. When the county was planning the expansion of Valley Med Center, HCA offered to provide the same services at San Jose hospital under contract at a lower cost. They made an offer as well as an offer to negotiate future costs.
This would have saved the hospital and the services for downtown but the county following the lead of the now discredited Robert Sillen went forward with the enormous building project that has saddled us with debt.
I’ve never been a Ronny G fan but he was the lone voice of fiscal sanity on this issue against the rest of the board and the editorial board of the Mercury News. When the expansion of Valley Med was approved, the writing was on the wall for the closing of San Jose Hospital. Where were the protesters then?
Another point to look at is the issue of uninsured cost the SJMG had to swallow.
It was estimated at a million per month. They couldn’t find a solution with the city or county.
Basically, they were forced to take on a lot emerency room visits from persons with no insurance. The county made it really hard to get the money reimbursed.
How can any business take on a loss of a million per month?
Jack,
I have read some of your blogs and came away feeling real good about you but, your comments on the “Regional Mrdical Center” take me by surprise.I believe you need to take a couple of steps backwards and re-think or do your research before you go off as you have about the RMC people.
The Regional Medical Center people have spent a lot of money at the former Alexican Bros. Hospital (once bankrupt) and given San Jose one of the only two “Trauma Centers” in our City. We are a city of almost 1 million people, in case of a major catastrophe like a major earthquake or terrorist attack we only would be able to rely on the two local “Trauma Centers”, Valley Medical Center and the Regional Medical Center.The RMC people have expanded the former medical facility of Alexican Bros hospital added a helicopter pad and helicopter. The new facility is very large,and employees a lot of local people.By the way this industry is second only to high tec for employment in our area. They have invested a fortune at McKee Road facility, and not that far from downtown San Jose.
You said,“As long as we remain under the thumb of the HCA`s of this Country, we will have a second class health care system at best…”. Jack, I respect you but…you need to re-think about all your comments yo made about these people.
1. San Jose Hospital was a community asset for more than 80 years.
2. The hospital site is zoned public/quasi-public. The City Council wisely recognized that the historical use of the site and value as a community asset should be strongly weighed in considering any zoning changes.
3. The closure of San Jose Hospital and policy of not accepting Medi-Cal at Regional Medical Center has shifted a tremendous burden to Valley Medical Center and O’Connor and left a large geographic region of the City underserved.
4. The San Jose Hospital emergency department was a busy place right up to the day it closed. There is no doubt we are worse off today in terms of availability and options for emergency healthcare services.
5. Multiple studies have concluded that there is a need for more hospital capacity as downtown and North San Jose grows.
6. The closure of the hospital eliminated the anchor of what was once a thriving medical services district in San Jose.
7. The closure of San Jose Hospital and consolidation with Regional, and economic ripple effect along East Santa Clara Street, has probably resulted in a net loss of jobs and tax revenue.
8. Over the last three years HCA has had ample opportunity to in some way fill the medical services gap left by the closure of the hospital and migration of surrounding medical services. The company has not demonstrated any evidence of contributing to solving the problem.
9. While large scale multi-specialty clinics and other primary and urgent care centers are opening all over the Bay Area, the downtown of one of the largest cities in the country is without even a small scale multi-specialty clinic or hospital.
10. The City Council should be commended for their vote that demonstrates a commitment to healthcare and planning for primary care, urgent care, and future hospital capacity for our growing City. While the City may not be directly responsible for healthcare, the role of the City is to foster and facilitate a long term vision for key community services such as healthcare.
11. The City should continue to explore all potential means to attract new healthcare providers to Central San Jose. This should be a top priority for the Redevelopment Agency and City Manager.
Jack – thanks for highlighting this important local issue and also for relating it to the broader national issue of healthcare and insurance reform.
#5- Very well said! Medi-Cal patients will be in even more trouble this summer when the Governors new budget cuts to that program take affect. Something needs to be done soon or many low-income people will suffer needlessly.
FYI- My cardiologist, Dr. Nguyen tried to get permission to open a trauma unit there, during Cindy Chavez’s time, he got zero support from the Council. Very sad because this man is just awesome. Dr. Nguyen treats mostly ALL low-income people, and truly cares about our community, so much so that he gathered a group of investors and tried unsuccessfully to make some kind of medical care available in downtown. May be his request to the city should be revisited.
#5,
I hear what you are saying but to blame the Regional Medical Center People or for the City Council to hold them personally responsible is in correct. The solution may belong in the hands of the County or State Of California or even San Jose State.
It was the Doctors that were leaving the hospital and joining other hospital groups.My doctor left San Jose Hospital and opened an office across the street from O`Connor`s Hospital on Forest Avenue.
After Regional Medical Center remopdeled the former Alexican Bros Hospital he opened a second office in the doctors Medical offices building just off McKee Road and served his patitents from both hospitals.
The doctors left RMC aka San Jose Hospital because over 60% of the patitents at San Jose Hospital did “Not have insurance”, the doctors were tired of working for nothing.The hospital had a large % of homeless patitents or people on drugs. This clearly becomes a County Problem, not RMC`s problem.
Downtown people have three medical facilities within 11/2 mile of downtown San Jose: O`connor, Valley Medical and San Jose Medical Facility on Lincoln Ave near San Carlos Blvd. Within 2 miles of the former San Jose Hospital on 13th street is the Regional Medical Center.
Willow Glen and Almaden Valley both have populations over 90,000 residents and get by with an “Urgent Care Center”, not a major hospital.
#4
We are a city of almost 1 million people, in case of a major catastrophe like a major earthquake or terrorist attack we only would be able to rely on the two local “Trauma Centers”, Valley Medical Center and the Regional Medical Center.
Not to worry. Reid-Hillview will save us all.
We will just cram everyone into the little 4 seat airplanes that can use RHV. Since the runways are so short, the size of the planes that can use RHV is limited. Additionally, if a bigger plane does land at RHV, and manages to stop before running off the runway, it will not be able to takeoff fully loaded, because it needs to get into the air before it reaches the end of the 3100 foot runways.
Details. Details. Pesky little details.
Kathleen,
Dr. Nyugen was my Cardiolgist also, he was on staff at O`Connor the day I was brought in for an emergency operation,he took care of me that day, this is how I met him.
He is also on staff at Standford Hospital in Palo Alto.
None of this solves the problem with the un-insured and nneedy. Regional Medical Center, O`Connor`s or any of the others are not the solution, neither is the City of San Jose nor the RDA. This problem, because of the large number of un-insured (60%+)belongs at the Santa Clara County Level, Valley Medical. When Jim Beal was a supervisor, the County recieced $30million from the San Jose RDA fund to solve this type of a problem.
The solution belongs in the hands of the County of Santa Clara. The Insured that used to go to S.J.Hospital will continue to go to Regional Medical Center Hospital or O`connor Hospital, not an urgent care facility on 13th street @ Santa Clara Street.
#9-Richard Zappelli,
Any one who is ill deserves proper medical care, without having to go into debt so badly they lose everything. Medical costs are sky high, and if you don’t think these doctors, their corporations, and the drug companies aren’t benefiting hand over fist from us, you are very naive Richard. Have you looked at what a hospital, or ER charges for two aspirin? Or a cold pack? It is outrageous! They over charge for EVERYTHING! Where does this money go? Have you ever been injured or sick and gone to Valley Med? Plan on staying 8-10 hours Richard. If you are trying to make an appointment at one of their clinics, plan on a wait for anywhere from 2-4 months. When you get to your appointment 15 minutes early like they tell you to, plan on at least a 3-6 hour wait to be seen.
Many insurance companies don’t allow for certain medical tests, drugs, etc. They rip you off daily. You pay into their program for years and years, and then the minute you get sick they use every trick in the book to get out of covering you. If you have a pre-existing condition, FORGET IT! You are SOL. This type of situation contributes to hospitals going broke too.
Universal Health Care is badly needed here. Too many people are loosing everything they own, worked for all their lives just to pay for a major illness. It is disgusting. In other countries that have Universal Health Care, like France, England, and Canada no one goes without help and they don’t have to worry about loosing their home just to help an aging parent either! And I have yet to hear of a hospital over there going bankrupt!
#10 Kathleen
You are absolutely right in everything you say. We are wasting time and money trying to solve our healtcare problems by patching up the broken medical-insurance-for-profit system we have. We must have a universal national health CARE system. It is the only real solution.
If anyone is still in doubt about the greed and unethical behavior of the medical insurance and drug industries, have a look at this front page story in the New York Times today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/us/14drug.html
#12- That article is just a drop in the bucket on how disgusting these drug companies and medical providers are behaving! Go see SICKO if you really want an idea of just how bad things are.
These Insurance companies make me furious and I think this election year is a great time for us to scream out about the injustice of what they, and drug companies are getting a way with. They make MILLIONS off of us and give little to nothing in return. Insurance companies stall requests for medical procedures in an effort to wait you out. Yes! They are hoping you’ll DIE first!
Many of my friends have told me horror stories about family members stuck in administrative appeals for treatment, and then they die before they even get a hearing. Many seniors I know go toothless, without hearing aides, or glasses because they can not afford the dental insurance, or have such a high co-pay on the medical, and drugs, they can’t get glasses or hearing aides. That is just so unacceptable. These people worked their whole dam life, made our country great and we allow them to be thrown a way like garbage because we are allowing these big corporations to get a way with this crap just so they can turn a HUGE profit. So don’t ask me to feel sorry for any huge medical cooperation that didn’t manage OUR money well, and couldn’t find enough compassion for the sick or injured citizens in downtown San Jose, to ensure they had some kind of proper medical care venue to go to when they needed help. I could care less about em. We should tax the crap out of them, and have a citizen over sight committee to ensure they stop ripping us off~
#13 Kathleen
I share your anger with insurance and drug companies and the American for profit system. I saw Sicko and as good as it was, it only scratched the surface.
I lived in England and Ireland for 20 years and found the national health services in both countries superior in care, much cheaper and vastly simpler to navigate in comparison to the USA. In fact, there is no comparison. I have been in the hospital and had tests and procedures in Europe and the USA and the only place I have had to wait in line is right here in the US——EVERY time.
The for profit system here in the US has become a bureaucratic nightmare right out of a Kafka novel. The insurance companies wear people out who are trying to get care to the point where many just give up. In England or Ireland, you walk into a hospital and get treatment right now. Nobody asks for a credit card or any other payment, and paperwork is minimal and secondary to receiving care.
Our system limits freedom of movement. If you have a job you are probably covered. But if you want to move to a different place and start afresh, you lose your insurance until you have a new job and policy. Indvidual insurance is completely unaffordable. So either you take a chance and go without insurance and hope you don’t get sick or have an accident before you get a new job, or you just stay where you are because you can’t take that chance.
With universal national healthcare, while you are working, you pay as you go into the system. If you lose your job or move to another city to look for a new one, you don’t lose your healthcare. With national healtcare, everyone is covered all the time no matter where they are in the country. If you need to go to a hospital, you don’t have to call your insurance company and get their permission. You just go and get care without worry.
It’s unbelieveable to me that Americans still stand for the terrible system we have now when we could easily have a cheaper more efficient one like the rest of the developed world. The only conclusion you can come to is that the insurance and drug companies have bought off the politicians.
Like you say, this has to be a big issue in the coming election. We need to replace the members of Congress who are in the pockets of insurance and drug companies and elect new representatives who will give us a national healthcare system and throw every one of those unethical money-grubbing “health industry” companies overboard.
Jack,
How do European countries fund Universal Health Care? Do they have one blanket tax?
I listened to Hilary Clinton tout how great drug companies are on a cable news channel today. I wanted to drive her over to our local pharmacy and let her sit and watch people gasp when they are told their co-pay amounts. She claims Obama is “out of touch, and elitist’s!” Yeah right~
Jack, these politicians are rich. Our country provides them with REALLY GOOD medical benefits. They aren’t going to give up the huge donations for something as important as low cost, decent health care for US citizens.
Has anyone out there ever been laid off and had to pay for COBRA to keep health insurance? My God what a racket! So you lose your job, go on unemployment and more than a quarter to a half of what you get goes to pay for COBRA! Unbelievable. It is a rip off all the way down the line.
#15 Kathleen
The national health system in Ireland is funded by a “contribution” from the wages of every employed person over the age of 16. If you make less than 25,000 Euros ($32,000), you are exempt from making any contribution. For income of between 25,000 and 100,000 Euros ($135,000), it is 2 percent. Anyone earning more than 100,000 Euros pays 2.5 percent. There is a copay for doctor visits and prescriptions of around $10. The copay for a hospital stay is about $100 with a yearly maximum of $1,000. The family maximum payment for drugs is $120 per month. All of these copays are waived in the case of those individuals or families earning less than a certain amount. Everyone over 70 receives completely free medical care.
It is not hard to figure out that this is a hell of a lot less than what we pay. And every resident who walks into a hospital or doctor in Ireland at any time is fully covered, whether employed or not. Children, students, retirees, the unemployed and the physically disabled have no worries.
Anyone who wants to purchase private insurance may do so. This will basically get you a private room in one of the (few)private clinics, or in a public hospital (if available) with the payment of a fee by the insurance company. The level of care is the same for everyone everywhere, so there is no need for private insurance except for those who “require” their own room.
Kathleen,
I agree with you, “we need Universal Health Care”. UHC is long over due in this Country! The present Governor tried to begin a Health Care Program for our State. But the lobbiest stopped him. California could easily provide Health Care Insurance for all of us.
Jack,
I think many people in the US would be willing to divert the money they pay for medical insurance to a Universal Health Care plan instead. We put all this money into medical insurance and in the end it rarely pays off. My fiancé’s grandmother went through hell when her very wealthy husband got MS. They used every single cent they had for RXs, in home care, doctor’s fees you name it. He died before the medical bills could claim their house too!
His grandmother got very ill the year after her husband died. They had to sell her house and the money from the sale went to paying for her medical bills and her funeral. I think that she would have lived longer had she had the money to pay for better health care. I am just disgusted by the way our countries leaders allow these huge corporations to get a way with this kind of thing every single day. I hope citizens get good and dam angry and demand change, so that our children are left with a much more practical and fair medical plan.