It must be noted that I started documenting these ObamaCare/healthcare related shutdowns at the beginning of 2014. In that year I posted the reports biannually (every six months). In 2015 ObamaCare cutbacks ramped up and I posted quarterly (every three months). For the past eight months of 2016 there have been so many ObamaCare cutbacks that I’ve posted a report every month!
Incomplete list of healthcare related layoffs and shutdowns, August 2016:
Alabama: Tennessee based Crestwood Medical Center laid off 13 people, directly blaming ObamaCare for lower patient volumes.
California: Menlo Park based Kaiser Health News reporting on a new ‘surprise’ healthcare billing that patients are unaware of, called Observation Care. Not only can a hospital hit you with the surprise charge of a supposed visit by a doctor you never saw, but they’re also charging for the nurse to “observe” you. More and more of these Observation Care charges are being rejected by Medicare because such service is now considered outpatient care, thus patients are being billed directly. Sonoma West Medical Center (previously Palm Drive Hospital) laid off 25 administration staff after signing a management contract with Pipeline Health, they claim they’ll hire more nurses. Germany owned Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals announced they will layoff an undisclosed number of employees in Mission Bay. Medical products maker Balda C. Brewer issued a shutdown WARN for their Anaheim ops, 130 jobs gone by Halloween! In Corona, Israeli based drugs maker Teva laying off 19 people by October. MedRisk shutting down their Calabasas location by mid-October. Bankrupt Gardens Regional Hospital (Tri-City Regional) issued a mass layoff WARN for their city of Hawaiian Gardens hospital (which provides service for low income people), 318 jobs gone by November! Last year the city of Los Angeles sued Gardens Regional for ‘dumping’ homeless patients. Gardens Regional administrators blame ObamaCare for their economic destruction saying in federal bankruptcy court “The debtor loses money every month it operates, and would soon be unable to pay its employees for the next pay period.”
Florida: In Hialeah, eyeglass maker Insight Optical Manufacturing sending 63 in-house jobs to cheap-o contractors by mid-October. Nephron Pharmaceuticals eliminating 60 Orlando jobs by the end of October.
Georgia: WellStar Health Systems outsourced 521 jobs to a contractor! Atlanta based Cable News Network (CNN) continues airing reports that swear “there is no proof that ObamaCare has cost jobs.” I assume they don’t read Blind Bat News. DeKalb County based U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports at least 2-thousand 517 casesof Zika in the U.S. So far only the states of Wyoming and Alaska have escaped the virus.
Idaho: Non-profit Project Access Northwest testified before The Gem State legislature, blasting them for their version of ObamaCare saying 40% of the patients they see have no insurance! State Representative Fred Wood, from Burley, stated that Idaho’s version of ObamaCare is a “system where if you’re poor you have to rely on charity care, versus what everybody else gets.”
Illinois: After trying to get employees to retire early, NorthShore University HealthSystem now laying off at least 1-hundred people due to “redundancies”! In East Alton, the Walgreens on West Saint Louis Avenue shutdown without warning. The town’s mayor said Walgreens administrators told him the store wasn’t making enough money. Walgreens is also shutting down a store in Decatur.
Iowa: New Links Genetics laid off 1-hundred employees after one of its new cancer treatment drugs failed in testing!
Kentucky: King’s Daughters Medical Center killed 148 jobs! It’s directly blamed on ObamaCare for reducing patient volumes, and cost reimbursements.
Maine: Eastern Maine Healthcare System laid off 35 people. 13 employees accepted early retirement deals. It’s blamed on a $3-million USD shortfall caused by ObamaCare.
Massachusets: Nonprofit Baystate Health continues killing jobs, this time 3-hundred jobs gone due to a $75-million USD shortfall caused by reduced Medicaid payments, as a result of ObamaCare! Employees at Fresenius Medical Care locked up and left an 86 years old dialysis patient inside the clinic! The grand daughter of the patient had to call firefighters to get her grandma out, employees admitted they never noticed the patient!
New York: NYC based insurance company MetLife announced yet more job killing, this time the insurer wants to cut $1-billion USD in costs, and part of that will be the outsourcing of more than 1-thousand MetLife InfoTech/call center jobs in the U.S. and India! U.S. Security Associates lost their contract with North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital, 97 jobs lost by September. Chapter 11 bankrupt Hebrew Hospital Senior Housing shutting down their Westhester Meadows retirement home, 89 jobs gone by the end of September. God can’t stop Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Elmira from eliminating 83 jobs by September. In Troy, god couldn’t stop ‘his’ Samaritan Hospital from eliminating 22 nursing positions. Israel based drugs maker Teva issued a shutdown WARN for their Pomona location, 236 jobs lost between now and February 2017! Phoenix Houses shutting down their Brooklyn addiction treatment center on J Street, at least 42 of the 109 employees will become unemployed in time for Thanksgiving.
North Carolina: Columbus Regional Healthcare System eliminated 28 jobs. In Ashville, after 19 years Skyland Behavioral Health Associates shutdown due to “a confluence of unpredicted events”. Non-profit Mission Health eliminated three executive positions, cut executive pay between 13% and 25%, and is laying off 70 employees. It’s directly blamed on federal taxpayer funding cuts and North Carolina’s version of ObamaCare.
Pennsylvania: Drugs maker Merk issued a shutdown WARN for their North Wales operations, 148 jobs gone by mid September! Canonsburg based drugs maker Mylan jacked up the price of its life saving EpiPen by 548%, to $608 USD for a package of two injectors! Mylan says it’s making a cheaper ‘generic’ version, to retail at $304! In 2007 the EpiPen cost $98!
Tennessee: Tennova Healthcare laying off 75 people in October. God powerless to stop ‘his’ Baptist Memorial Health Care from laying off 23 people. Another 61 employees will be let go sometime in the near future. Administrators directly blame ObamaCare for reduced costs reimbursements: “Healthcare is going through unprecedented change, and we’ll all have to do more with less. These changes will help position Baptist to provide the very best care for all of the mid-South.”-Jason Little, executive vice president and COO
Texas: In Waco, Missouri owned Providence Health Center is outsourcing their office and billing operations to a company in Illinois. In Lubbuck, god powerless to stop Covenant Health from laying off 49 employees, administrators directly blame ObamaCare: “Covenant Health is financially stable, but the changes we’ve experienced thus far and will continue to undergo are the direct result of reduced reimbursements….”-Richard Parks, executive vice president and CEO
Virginia: Ohio based grocer Kroger is shutting down its The Little Clinic urgent care ops at four Hampton Roads locations. News reports didn’t explain why. Lynchburg’s Centra Health will eliminate 124 jobs between now and Xmas! Administrators blame the bad economy and ObamaCare for reducing patient volumes and cost reimbursements.
Washington: Vancouver based non-profit PeaceHealth announced they will layoff 5-hundred employees at two hospitals! PeaceHealth recently lost a major contract with California based Kaiser Permanente. Interestingly this mass layoff has yet to be reported to state employment adminstrators (WARN).
Washington DC: The Congressional Budget Office predicts that only 12-million people will sign up for ObamaCare in 2017, far less than the 24-million predicted back in 2013. Analysts say low enrollment in 2017 will mean the death of ObamaCare.
Wisconsin: God can’t stop ‘his’ employees from blowing the whistle on massive layoffs at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare and Columbia Saint Mary’s. When confronted by news media the administrators of the ‘christian’ hospitals refused to give numbers, but admitted its part of parent company Ascention Health’s consolidation plans.
OBAMACARE FAIL: U.S. ARMY PROVIDES FREE CARE FOR DESPERATE TEXANS!
OBAMACARE FAIL: U.S. MILITARY DEPLOYED TO RENDER FREE MEDICAL HELP TO 13-THOUSAND U.S. CITIZENS!
July 2016: “…NO AMBULANCE SERVICE.”
ObamaCare = Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification