Impeding changes to our Health Care system

[Lamplighter]

So this is where ObamaCare is headed ?

Years ago, the Maternity Wing of Buffalo Children's Hospital served lobster every Friday.
This was well known through out the city, and generated a lot of business for the hospital.


NY Times
1/22/12
Chefs, Butlers, Marble Baths: Hospitals Vie for the Affluent

<snip>


It was Greenberg 14 South, the elite wing on the new penthouse floor
of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital.
Pampering and décor to rival a grand hotel, if not a Downton Abbey,
have long been the hallmark of such “amenities units,”
often hidden behind closed doors at New York’s premier hospitals.

But the phenomenon is escalating here and around the country, health care design specialists say,
part of an international competition for wealthy patients willing to pay extra,
even as the federal government cuts back hospital reimbursement
in pursuit of a more universal and affordable American medical system.

“It’s not just competing on medical grounds and specialties,
but competing for customers who can go just about anywhere,” said Helen K. Cohen,
a specialist in health facilities at the international architectural firm HOK,
which recently designed luxury hospital floors in Singapore and London
and renovated NewYork-Presbyterian’s elite offerings in the McKeen Pavilion in Washington Heights.
“These kinds of patients, they’re paying cash
— they’re the best kind of patient to have,” she added. “Theoretically, it trickles down.”
<snip>

At Mount Sinai Medical Center, where the aesthetic of the Eleven West wing
is antique mahogany rather than contemporary sleek, and the best room costs $1,600,
William Duffy, the hospital’s director of hospitality, said his favorite entree was Colorado rack of lamb,
adding, “We pride ourselves on getting anything the patient wants.
If they have a craving for lobster tails and we don’t have them on the menu, we’ll go out and get them.”

Oh, wait a minute. Don't the Republicans want to repeal ObamaCare ?