Another Drowning Victim

Grover Norquist's plan continues to work perfectly. I'm sure the poor & uninsured are very pleaser at how you are saving America, you turd.

"What we basically see is a widening rift between what we call the health care 'haves' and 'have-nots,' " said Alwyn Cassil, a spokeswoman for the Center for Studying Health System Change, a policy research organization in Washington, D.C.

One system largely serves people with private health insurance or on Medicare, and is prospering, Cassil said. The other largely serves the uninsured or people on Medicaid, and is struggling.

Wheaton Franciscan sees both sides. The network's Elmbrook Memorial Hospital, which serves an affluent suburban community, posted a $27.5 million profit in the 2004 fiscal year, in which St. Michael Hospital lost $24.6 million.


Elmbrook Memorial, 19333 W. North Ave., Brookfield, treats almost no patients covered by government health programs for the poor. At St. Michael Hospital, about 35% of patients are covered by Medicaid or the county General Assistance Medical Program, or have no health insurance, based on a rough calculation of data filed with the Wisconsin Hospital Association.

Medicaid is the state and federal program that provides health care to poor families with children, or to people who are disabled or elderly and impoverished. The General Assistance Medical Program provides health care to people who are poor but do not qualify for Medicaid.

Both programs pay much less to hospitals and other health care providers than either private insurance or Medicare pay.