Motion Picture Fund debacle: Is Hollywood really that cheap?

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 10:39am

Hollywood hates dealing with the past. It's the one thing you can say amid the uproar over the news that the venerable Motion Picture & Television Fund is closing down a vital long-term care unit and acute care hospital by year's end. The hysteria has gotten a little out of hand, since many people are under the mistaken assumption that the residential retirement community--popularly known as the Motion Picture Home, whose residents have included producer Stanley Kramer, western actor Joel McCrea and "Star Trek's" DeForest Kelley--is closing as well. It's not. But hundreds of people who've needed essential care are going to be affected, along with 200 or so workers who will lose their jobs.

The problem, as I've learned, is that the Motion Picture Fund now has a yearly shortfall of $20 million, roughly half of that coming from the hospital and long-term care unit. With the hospital deficit widening each year, the fund's leadership decided to shed itself of its biggest money-loser in the hopes of saving the overall fund, which spends roughly $120 million a year on various healthcare services.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/01/motion-picture.html

[Yawper]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 10:53am

It's not just Hollywood it's the bulk of the country (except the Rust Belt which continues to have some of the best healthcare in the nation thanks to its history of unionization).

The entire healthcare industry and its insurance buddies massively overcharge. That's the next economic bubble to burst.

[best12bars]

Posted: 1/17/09 at 11:24am

Yawper is completely right. Not only about the reason, but about the prediction that it's the next "economic bubble to burst."

And it will start (or I should say HAS STARTED) with emergency and "necessary" care for the elderly and uninsured. Because, by law, they can't be denied attention. Somebody has to foot their bills when they are unable to pay and need life-saving meds or treatments. But nobody is paying those bills. Medicare and Medicaid help, but don't cover it. They can only go so far. You've all seen the insurance bills or statements: The hospital says your procedure or operation cost $150,000, but the insurance company is paying out $6,000. The hospital has to "write off" the rest. "Write off?" Where exactly do those expenses go? Even if they're overpriced, I don't think they're THAT overpriced. They are constantly taking a hit. And they keep on going.

This will eventually trickle down to all of us. The relatively "young and healthy" folks who have insurance and keep up with premiums and co-pays.

I'm watching this all happen firsthand now. With close relatives and loved-ones. Wonderful, surprisingly swanky assisted living facilities (profit organizations, not the non-profit ones) are going belly-up and filing for Chapter 11. Healthcare costs have escalated, insurance companies refuse to raise their allowances for medicines and procedures, and "business as usual" isn't possible anymore. Neither is turning a blind eye to the problem.

I'm thinking the medical profession (just like the real estate market) is overpriced WAY beyond what any consumer or business can afford to pay. Just like the housing market, where someone who is making $55,000 per year thinks he can buy a $650,000 house. And when the market and its consumers can't accept these high prices or the "creative accounting" that allows them to conduct business, the prices MUST come down. There is no other choice.

It will start with many Chapter 11 filings (and other bankruptcies), similar to the foreclosures and personal bankruptcies being filed right now with homeowners. And just as so many people have stopped paying their mortgages because they can't afford to, hospitals and caregivers will stop paying their overpriced bills for medical supplies, equipment, staffing, and procedures.

It's happening now all over. The Motion Picture Country Home is a high-profile facility, which is why it's getting this attention. But it's not the first case, nor an isolated event.

Let the fun begin.