Good coverage. I live in the ATL area. While I'm not a patient of Wellstar, I am familiar with them. You are probably spot-on in your summary, but should note that Augusta is also an impoverished community. Not sure where they are building there, but they'll have a fair amount of charity care in Augusta. Also, downtown Atlanta has virtually every health system represented: Grady, Emory, Piedmont. Perhaps it was a competitive decision?
And while I have no affection for private hospitals like Wellstar, I think you are incorrect to accuse them of "structural racism."
A private institution can locate wherever it wants. If the voters in Felton County want what amounts to a public hospital, they should open one with public tax dollars. (That is what the city of New York did throughout the 1930's)
I realize that virtually no American city (including New York) wants to tax itself in this manner any more. We would need the federal government to be involved.
If the rich-neighborhood Wellmark hospital accepts Medicare and Medicaid, then the poor residents of Atlanta can in almost all cases get a ride over to that institution. In an emergency, they cannot be turned away. With Medicare, I do not think they can be turned away for non-emergency care either.
Wellmark's management is greedy. I am baffled how that makes them racists.
Thanks for your comment. What I mean by structural racism is that our healthcare system is built to reward hospitals for prioritizing wealthier and whiter neighborhoods. It's not that Wellstar itself is choosing to exclude Black people in Atlanta because they are racist, it's that the incentives of the system push hospitals to exclude communities of color. The fact that hospitals making more money has a disproportionate impact on communities of color is an example of structural racism in healthcare.
Good coverage. I live in the ATL area. While I'm not a patient of Wellstar, I am familiar with them. You are probably spot-on in your summary, but should note that Augusta is also an impoverished community. Not sure where they are building there, but they'll have a fair amount of charity care in Augusta. Also, downtown Atlanta has virtually every health system represented: Grady, Emory, Piedmont. Perhaps it was a competitive decision?
Thanks for posting this timely article.
And while I have no affection for private hospitals like Wellstar, I think you are incorrect to accuse them of "structural racism."
A private institution can locate wherever it wants. If the voters in Felton County want what amounts to a public hospital, they should open one with public tax dollars. (That is what the city of New York did throughout the 1930's)
I realize that virtually no American city (including New York) wants to tax itself in this manner any more. We would need the federal government to be involved.
If the rich-neighborhood Wellmark hospital accepts Medicare and Medicaid, then the poor residents of Atlanta can in almost all cases get a ride over to that institution. In an emergency, they cannot be turned away. With Medicare, I do not think they can be turned away for non-emergency care either.
Wellmark's management is greedy. I am baffled how that makes them racists.
Thanks for your comment. What I mean by structural racism is that our healthcare system is built to reward hospitals for prioritizing wealthier and whiter neighborhoods. It's not that Wellstar itself is choosing to exclude Black people in Atlanta because they are racist, it's that the incentives of the system push hospitals to exclude communities of color. The fact that hospitals making more money has a disproportionate impact on communities of color is an example of structural racism in healthcare.