Public should understand that cuts to hospitals will hurt everyone

Last year, Washington state lost about 65,000 jobs and hit unemployment numbers unseen since 1982. But while industries across America struggle to retain workers, health care is the one sector of the U.S. economy actually creating jobs.

More than 100,000 people in our state work in hospitals with solid, family-wage jobs, providing lifesaving services to people in need. Yet a super committee in Washington, D.C., is considering drastic measures that may eliminate many hospital jobs as it formulates plans to reduce the nation’s $1.3 trillion deficit.

I want my community – and, respectfully, Washington Sen. Patty Murray and other members of Congress’ Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction – to have a full understanding of the impact that cuts to hospital care would have across the nation, including Washington state.

In the United States, hospitals employ more than 5.4 million people and spend approximately $342 billion on goods and services from other businesses.

It’s estimated that a 2 percent cut to Medicare alone would eliminate about 200,000 direct and indirect hospital jobs nationwide by 2021. Certainly, Washington state would be hit by these cuts, and essential jobs would be lost in our communities. These are not just new, needed jobs; these are existing jobs that families rely on to pay their bills.

Hospital leaders recognize the fiscal challenges our country faces, and by no means believe we should shirk responsibility to rein in our nation’s spending. Hospitals have tightened their belts repeatedly. Nationally, the entire hospital industry has made significant commitments in reducing health care costs over the next 10 years.

Medicare and Medicaid are under the super committee’s microscope. The notion that cuts to hospital care can be made without impacts on beneficiaries or the communities in which they live is misguided.

The reality is that the government already pays hospitals less than their costs to care for Medicare and Medicaid patients. This has been the case for years. Further underfunding these programs will do significant and continuing harm. Many of our friends and neighbors rely on one or both of these programs. Their need for health care won’t go away simply because these programs are being cut.

Hospitals are caring for patients who are living longer, with more chronic diseases requiring greater levels of health care. As we continue a shift to wellness and prevention, early health interventions will become more essential – requiring more and regular access to care and more health care workers. Cutting jobs handicaps our ability to plan for and provide this needed care.

Health care is responsible for one in five new jobs. Despite the economy, health care employs 36 percent more people than it did 10 years ago. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, hospitals have added more than 84,000 private sector jobs nationally over the past year.

Hospital care is a labor-intensive endeavor. It is people caring for people in a hands-on enterprise. Wages and benefits account for the majority of hospitals’ spending. Every hospital job supports two or more jobs as hospitals and their employees purchase goods and services from other businesses.

In Washington state, for example, 90 percent of hospital-purchased goods and services are bought from Washington businesses (including local suppliers of national products), according to the Washington State Hospital Association. The association estimates that every $1 spent by a Washington hospital generates an additional $1.40 in business activity.

As our country struggles between recession and recovery, we must do what we can to save the jobs we have. We need forward-looking solutions – not drastic cuts that will only lead to more unemployment.

Kathleen Sanford, RN, of Olalla is a member of the board of trustees of the American Hospital Association and senior vice president and chief nursing officer for Catholic Health Initiatives, Englewood, Colo., the national health organization with which the Tacoma-based Franciscan Health System is affiliated.