Penn State Hershey Medical, rated the best in the area for Neurology sent a letter to more the 2,000 patients saying go away.
WHTM reported —
Penn State Hershey Medical Center dropped more than 2,000 patients from its neurology department. Two doctors retired, and two left for other jobs. Now, Midstate residents with multiple sclerosis are desperate for help.
Penn State Health sent us a statement, saying in part, "We are encountering many of the same challenges being seen by health systems nationwide - namely, a shortage of sub-specialists trained and ready to treat this complex illness."
Meanwhile, patients don't know where they will find care or get medicine.
One of the factors in the firing of VA Director David Shulkin was his opposition to privatization.
“The advocates within the administration for privatizing VA health services ... saw me as an obstacle to privatization who had to be removed,” Shulkin wrote.
Dismantling the department’s health-care system “is a terrible idea,” Shulkin wrote, adding that the private sector “is ill-prepared to handle the number and complexity of patients that would come from closing or downsizing VA hospitals and clinics.”
Groups like the Koch brothers-backed Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) are pushing to loosen current restrictions on veterans receiving private-sector care.
Government run health care like the Veterans Administration system mission is to take care of patients. They are rated and judged by internal controls and Congressional Oversight. They are generally rated higher by results and patient scores than private hospitals. When they screw up someone is watching and hands are wrung.
Private hospitals can quietly go about the business of making money and if they run into trouble they can dump it on their patients who have little chance of finding a place to lodge complaints.