Effects of economy on healthcare/hospital business (recession)

• The recession has stripped away health insurance for many of the jobless, while those who still are working are left to shoulder more of the costs.
• The reasons are all connected. As the population ages and more expensive procedures and prescriptions exist, costs rise for insurers. They charge more to employers, who pass on more costs to employees.
• In financial world the largest sector of the economy, healthcare, is the most recession-proof. The thinking is that people get sick no matter what's happening to the economy.
• Demand for elective procedures such as knee replacements and gum surgery invariably rises whenever people are worried about losing their jobs—and their health insurance.

How will layoffs affect healthcare?  Lack of insurance coverage?

• The number of uninsured will rise: Most U.S. residents under age 65 have access to health insurance through their employer, and as layoffs continue, people will also lose their health coverage along with their job.
• Spending on health care will be squeezed: Even people who manage to keep their jobs--and their health insurance benefits--will face significant financial risk from medical expenses, especially if credit is hard to obtain.
• Care will be put off: Although there is evidence of some over-consumption in the U.S. health care system, a large portion of health care is necessary. However, many people will be forced to delay or forgo health care consumption--especially the poor.

Are consumers “shopping” for services based on price?

• Nearly 40 million U.S. adults decided not to fill a prescription medication from a doctor in 2008 because of the cost.
• Many consumers have elected to forgo routine healthcare and medication for necessary treatment because of costs. 

Effect on Social Security

• Today, seniors are nearly as likely as their juniors to join unemployment lines, because pink-slipped seniors can no longer afford to put their feet up. Shrinking Social Security benefits, traditional pension plans, and 401(k) balances combine with soaring health care costs to force them to keep pounding the pavement.
• Rising medical expenses, which consume 15 percent of older people's budgets, can also jinx retirement. And only one in three large private employers offers retiree health benefits to supplement Medicare, compared with two in three in the 1980s.
• The stock market shed about half its value over the past 14 months, destroying $2.8 trillion in 401(k) and individual retirement accounts and intensifying pressure on seniors to work.

Aging Baby Boomers Generation
America's aging citizens are facing a health care workforce too small and unprepared to meet their needs
To meet the needs of our aging parents and grandparents, we need to increase the number of geriatric health specialists — both to provide care for those older adults with the most complex issues and to train the rest of the workforce in the common medical problems of old age.

The report raises alarms about the ability of the U.S. healthcare system to cope with the future healthcare needs of aging low and middle income baby boomers, who face:

• Increasing healthcare issues
• Unstable healthcare insurance coverage
• High medical costs
• Debt problems

What Worries Older Workers about the Current Healthcare System?

• There is a lack of confidence in healthcare coverage among older workers and their spouses, and a lack of support for policy options that would improve access to healthcare.
• Older workers and their spouses with low and moderate incomes are worried about the affordability of healthcare insurance coverage.
• A large majority (72%) said they would be interested in receiving Medicare before age 65.
• While older workers with low incomes were most at risk for being uninsured and having gaps in healthcare coverage, even those with moderate incomes face high rates of unstable healthcare coverage.
• Out-of-pocket costs for healthcare and healthcare insurance premiums take a large bite out of the household incomes of older workers.

Effects on labor/nursing shortages
Due to the recession, it has become difficult for hospitals to cut staff or salaries given the extreme shortage of nurses and other health-care workers.
How does this effect payer mix (tax structure)?

Sources:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/22/health-recession-us-cx_1223oxford_print.html
http://www.businessweek.com/print/technology/content/mar2008/tc20080324_828167.htm
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090104/NEWS01/
http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,445914,00.html
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/health.2008/12/high-drug-costs.html
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2008/04/14/US_healthcare_not_ready_for_baby_boomers/UPI-
http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=901205&renderforprint=1
http://seniorliving.about.com/od.manageyourmoney/a/healthcarecosts.htm?p=1