It’s been a couple of weeks now since Mayo Clinic Health System (MCHS) announced it would be closing a number of clinics in southern Minnesota, including here in Montgomery. Come Dec. 10, what will many people do?
I feel the answer to that question is whatever they are FORCED to do, not what is better for them.
Although these are private companies and they are doing what they feel they need to do to be both most profitable while still providing enough services to people to stay open, it doesn’t hurt people any less. It also begs the question, why do they have to make so much profit?
MCHS made $1.293 billion dollars in profit in 2024, almost 20% more than in 2023, according to Twin Cities Business Magazine.
So, can they really not afford to keep these small town clinics alive or are they just not willing to forego some of, what I would call, excess profit?
I think about the people in Traditions, which is connected to their clinic in Montgomery, where many are clients of theirs. Where will these people go? How will they get to another clinic? How much more in time and money will it cost them? How much more difficult will it be for them?
For people who cannot drive, may be troubled with walking or traveling any distance, cannot hear well or see well to be able to coordinate services, this is not helping them. What might make matters worse is the inability to speak to a human being at MCHS when you call in to make an appointment. You call a system and they call you back at some point.
Patients will struggle with making appointments, struggle coordinating rides to get to the appointments, and take twice as long or more to complete the whole appointment experience.
My own father has complained about the MCHS appointment system for a long time. When he was able to drive, even sometimes when he wasn’t able to drive, he or my siblings would drive him to the clinic in Montgomery from New Prague to talk to a person and personally make an appointment. Automated systems might be beneficial for the provider, but it is devaluing the patient — whether or not that is their intent.
Services like MCHS’s “Primary Care On Demand,” a 24/7/365 virtual service to connect with a provider by video from a phone or a computer, is just no replacement for a doctor visit.
I’ve used video services before over the last few years about five-six times. It was never convenient, and I always left feeling like a better diagnosis would have come about if a doctor would have been able to physically see and examine me, something not truly possible virtually. As well, those types of services are just very difficult for a lot of elderly to even attempt.
An attendee of the Le Sueur County Officials meeting last week pointed out that we, after MCHS shuts down the clinics in St. Peter and Montgomery, will only have one medical clinic in Le Sueur County left, just one.
Maybe there is still time to convince MCHS that not closing all these clinics is a better solution, before Dec. 10. These communities need this personalized care from a doctor they know in the community they live in. Perhaps they can bring back talking to real people for making an appointment as well.
My personal feeling is that these clinics closing is not due to issues of not enough money, given the profits gained last year. Of course, money wasn’t the only reason MCHS stated. Regardless, this certainly isn’t a move to benefit residents of the area, but solely the company.
A fix to this sort of thing would be universal healthcare and making healthcare a human right instead of luxury, as in if you can afford it or even if you can’t and make yourself go into medical bankruptcy. There have been a number of people I have heard from that wonder why it isn’t a thing here, universal healthcare.
The answer is we value enough as a collective society, through voting, profits over people. It could be as simple as voting on the premise of providing for the greater population the care they need — mentally, physically, and emotionally. No worry of profits. Only worry of being solvent and taking care of each and every person, regardless of their ability to pay as a collective society. We the people ALL pay in order that EVERYONE can be taken care of without financial worries.
We have the power, we just need to physically change our actions for what we support. Until then, for-profit corporations like MCHS will do what they feel they need to do to stay on a path forward that is best for them, not necessarily the people they serve. I don’t hold that against them. They are just conducting business like businesses feel they need to operate. I just think there is a better solution that could be realized — both by society and by MCHS.