Brooklyn hospitals are in dire shape, Crain’s New York Business reports in a story that shows everything that’s wrong with how states appropriate resources and how America misplaces its priorities. The story is stuffed with numbers, but the ideas are simple enough: Brooklyn hospitals are cash-starved and desperately need to invest in equipment and facility improvements. A state task force created to restructure Brooklyn’s hospitals met last week, advising consolidating hospitals, bankruptcy, and an overhaul of how hospitals are reimbursed.
Such recommendations sound like the equivalent of fighting a war with rubber bands and super soakers. Consolidating meager resources won’t be enough. Health care needs to be made a real priority in the United States and, in turn, New York State.