Caritas has Metastasized

Father Z has the story.

• 3 Scranton-area Catholic Hospitals are shutting down because of Obamacare regulations that are set to go into effect soon. The CEO of the hospitals, Kevin Cook, is on record saying Obamacare is “absolutely” responsible for their painful decision to shut down. There’s a strong posibility the hospitals will be sold to a secular organization which would perform procedures against Catholic teaching. In other words, it is becoming more and more difficult for Catholics to have access to ethical health care.

• Sr. Carol Keehan – the nun and President of the Catholic Health Association, who famously received a “thank you pen” from President Obama for her work in turning Catholic congressman to give up their opposition to Obamacare, has been trying to bully Kevin Cook into changing his story about why his hospitals are closing, because she knows what a political powder keg the headline “Catholic hospitals closing because of Obamacare” will be in this critical election season

• CatholicVote has entered the fray: we’ve recorded a powerful radio ad to air in the Scranton market, so that Catholics and other citizens can know about the harmful consequences of Obamacare in their own district. Congressmen Paul Kanjorski and Chris Carney both voted for Obamacare, and both are facing tough challenges from pro-life alternatives this November.

It isn't just Catholic hospitals that are tanking.  Six secular hospitals in areas that serve the poor have filed a lawsuit saying the Massachusetts healthcare system (the test run for obamacare) is bankrupting them.  

"A hospital that serves thousands of indigent Massachusetts residents sued the state on Wednesday, charging that its costly universal health care law is forcing the hospital to cover too much of the expense of caring for the poor," according to the New York Times. 

The Times reports: "The hospital, Boston Medical Center, faces a $38 million deficit for the fiscal year ending in September, its first loss in five years. The suit says the hospital will lose more than $100 million next year because the state has lowered Medicaidreimbursement rates and stopped paying Boston Medical 'reasonable costs' for treating other poor patients.

Earlier this week, the fix came in -  Obama offered to infuse  $335 million in federal tax dollars into the collapsing healthcare system in Massachusetts.

The Obama administration has agreed to a plan to infuse $435 million into Massachusetts hospitals, the largest portion of which is intended to help avert a significant financial crisis at Boston Medical Center, the city’s primary provider of care to the poor.... 

The money, except for the Cambridge Health Alliance portion, must clear a remaining hurdle before it is transferred into the hospitals’ coffers. The federal government will provide $335 million, but Massachusetts must come up with about $100 million. The state Legislature must authorize the use of the state funds, language that has been held up as part of Republican objections to a larger spending bill....

Boston Medical Center laid off 119 nurses and managers last month, and has used cash reserves to make ends meet. But without the federal money, Walsh said, the hospital would have run out of reserves by next fall, leading to a much larger reduction of its nearly 6,000-person staff or consolidation of services with another provider.

Massachusetts taxpayers will be spending 100 million to bail out Romneycare  - and this is just a tourniquet so that the disaster here in Massachusetts  can stay under the radar until after the 2010-2012 election.

How could Obama continue to be hailed as the messiah if the collapse in Massachusetts reared its ugly head nationally?

The American Spectator also is a must read on Catholic Hospital situation in Scranton.