Calif AG Bonta effectively closes another hospital - 2022-Dec-27
On Dec 16, 2022 California Attorney General Rob Bonta conditionally approved the sale of the Madera Community Hospital to Trinity Health Corporation. The hospital which opened in 1971, has 106 beds, with 80% of it’s customer base being Medicare and Medical customers.
Bakers Hospitals Review announced on Dec 27, that Trinity Health, that they were backing out of the decision to buy, and the hospital will close on Jan 3.
Bonta listed requirements for approval including, be open for at least 5 years, accepting price caps to ensure affordable care for Madera residents, ensuring continued certification of the hospital as a Medi-Cal and Medicare facility, providing charity care and financial assistance to patients, as well as, community benefits.
With the loss of this hospital, alternatives do exist in nearby Fresno, 30 minutes or more away.
Key items to consider in Bonta’s decision. 1) California recently passed proposition 01 which makes California a destination for out of state Abortion refugees seeking low cost state provided services. This may not play well with Trinity Health Catholic background. 2) California price-caps don’t work well if 80% of your services are already to low income residents. There is not the large number of state and tech employees with Cadillac medical insurance to perform cost shifting to. Ideally California could help more with it’s excess tax revenues.
Why take on another hospital if the state government will force you to lose money? Isn’t creating a Medical Care Desert in the middle of California the real outcome? Should the state create a state publicly funded hospital to do it right, since private enterprise cannot? Rob Bonta’s statement can be found here.