導言：
本博主藉助於AI，推出一系列中英對照的中式【脫口秀】帖子，旨在通過新穎有趣的方式，激發年輕一代華人對時政的關注與思考。每段【脫口秀】後都附有原文，方便ABC對照閱讀。
英美主流媒體提供了豐富的優質時政內容，既有時效性，又有深度。為了讓更多年輕華人參與到政治討論中，我們可以嘗試多種方式，各顯神通。如果你對這些內容產生共鳴，歡迎轉發支持！
大家好，今天咱們聊點沉重又荒誕的事兒——中國醫院的財務危機。
先問大家一個問題：你們聽說過醫院破產嗎？對，醫院！不是那種黑心診所，也不是庸醫橫行的小診所，而是堂堂正正的醫院！
有一家醫院，曾經專治男性不育、性病，生意做得風生水起，結果呢？倒閉了！去年9月，法院直接貼了封條，醫院空了，設備家具都不見了，比“人去樓空”還徹底。要說這家醫院倒閉，也不是一天兩天的事兒，早前就因為欠薪被警告，法院傳票發了都沒人理，最後只能一拍兩散。
其實不止是這家，整個中國的醫院，不管公立私立，都在勒緊褲腰帶過日子。為什麼？
先來說說疫情。那時候，國家一聲令下，醫院全力防疫，做核酸檢測做得比做手術還勤快。結果檢測的錢花出去了，病人卻不來了。誰敢去醫院？醫院裡不是病人多，而是病毒多，大家都害怕去。
等到疫情結束，本想着醫院能喘口氣，結果又迎來房地產市場崩盤，經濟下滑。老百姓兜里沒錢了，看病都開始精打細算，能拖就拖。公立醫院本來還能靠政府補貼撐一撐，可地方政府也窮啊！
再來，醫保基金也快扛不住了。中國人均壽命越來越長，生病的成本越來越高，但繳醫保的年輕人越來越少。國家一看，這不行啊，趕緊削減支出。結果呢？醫院的錢越來越緊，醫生的工資越來越少，連醫院裡的免費飲用水都被砍了……
有的醫院擴張太快，貸款蓋新大樓，結果病人沒增加，收入卻砍了一半。甚至有的醫院還花大價錢買了一架鋼琴放大廳里，咋的，治病講究藝術薰陶嗎？
過去五年，200多家醫院破產，而再往前五年，只有7家破產。這趨勢，就像是醫院集體約好了似的，排隊等倒閉。
醫護人員的日子也不好過。浙江一家公立醫院的護士楊娜娜，幹了12年，第一次遇到減薪。餐補沒了，免費水沒了，連她們科室的燈泡都快擰不亮了。
有個醫院，花了1.2億蓋新樓，想着衝刺中國最高級別的醫院。結果疫情來了，病人沒了，收入直接砍半，最後連員工工資都發不出來。
政府也着急，開始想辦法控製成本，比如集中採購藥品，價格是壓下來了，但質量問題又引發爭議。有的病人開始轉向社區診所，甚至遠程醫療——醫院，你別說，還真有點被淘汰的趨勢。
當然，最狠的是年輕人。越來越多的人乾脆不交醫保了，反正看病都那麼貴，交了醫保也不能全報銷，乾脆省點錢直接去買高端體檢套餐去了。
這事兒最後會怎麼收場？清華的專家說，醫保基金再這麼花下去，十年就沒了。政府已經開始提高退休年齡、削減醫保支出了，但這只是開始。未來會怎麼樣？可能醫院門口都會掛上新的標語：
“入院請自帶水，醫生收費講價，病房可拼單。”
英文版：
Hello everyone! Today, let’s talk about something both heavy and absurd—China’s hospital financial crisis.
Let me ask you: Have you ever heard of a hospital going bankrupt? Not some shady clinic, not some back-alley doctor’s office, but a real hospital!
There was this hospital specializing in male infertility and STDs. Business was booming, and then—bam! It went bankrupt. Last September, the court sealed the doors. The hospital was empty, furniture and equipment gone. It was like “ghost town,” but medically themed. They had already been warned about unpaid wages, ignored court summons, and finally, the authorities just shut it down.
But it's not just this hospital—hospitals all over China, public and private, are struggling. Why?
First, COVID. The government went all-in on pandemic prevention. Hospitals did more COVID tests than surgeries. The money was spent, but patients stopped coming. Who wanted to go to a hospital full of viruses?
Then COVID ended, and hospitals thought they could breathe easy—nope! The real estate market crashed, the economy slumped, and people started saving money by delaying non-emergency treatments. Public hospitals usually get some government support, but even local governments are broke now.
Then there’s the fundamental issue: China’s population is aging. Medical costs are rising faster than insurance revenue. The government started cutting expenses, which meant hospitals were left scrambling. Doctors got pay cuts, meal subsidies were gone, and even free drinking water in some hospitals disappeared.
Many hospitals expanded too quickly, taking out loans to build new wings. But patients didn’t increase—revenues dropped by half. Some hospitals even bought a grand piano for the lobby. What, healing through music now?
Over the past five years, 200 hospitals went bankrupt. The five years before that? Only seven. Hospitals are lining up like dominos, waiting to fall.
Medical staff are suffering too. A nurse named Yang Nana, working in a Zhejiang public hospital for 12 years, just got her first-ever pay cut. No more meal subsidies, no more free water, and even the light bulbs in her department are flickering out.
One hospital invested 120 million yuan ($17 million) in a new building to achieve top-tier hospital status. Then COVID hit. Patients vanished. Revenue was slashed in half. Now they can’t even pay salaries.
The government is scrambling to cut costs. They’ve introduced centralized drug procurement, driving prices down—but now people worry about drug quality. More and more patients are turning to local clinics and telemedicine—hospitals are starting to feel... obsolete.
And young people? They’re just ditching health insurance altogether. If treatment is expensive and insurance doesn’t cover much, why bother paying for it? Some are opting for high-end health checkups instead.
So, where does this end? A Tsinghua professor predicts that at this rate, China’s health insurance fund will run dry in ten years. The government is already raising the retirement age and cutting healthcare spending, but this is just the beginning.
In the future, don’t be surprised if hospital signs read:
“Bring your own water, negotiate doctor fees, and room-sharing discounts available.”
