Michigan has long been known as the place that builds things with wheels, but a new economic force is now emerging: healthcare. Hospital-related construction is booming across Michigan, creating thousands of healthcare jobs and becoming an increasingly dominant economic driver of the state, where things like hip replacements pay the most bills rather than cars. The trend seems likely to continue, too, so let's see what's happening.
Here are Five Fast Facts on Michigan’s healthcare boom:
- 💰 Follow The Money - Michigan healthcare payrolls hit a whopping $51.4 billion last year, dwarfing the $19.4 billion that Michigan automakers spent on wages! Nothing says modern growth like a hospital payroll eating the auto industry’s lunch, right?
- 🏢 Billion-Dollar Boom - Healthcare investment is also pouring into Michigan. Henry Ford Health is spending $2.2 billion on a 20-story Detroit hospital, and the University of Michigan has allocated more than $1.4 billion for several new facilities in different cities. Apparently, the new skyscraper competition is docs vs cars.
- 🤝 Help Wanted - Michigan hospitals hired 58k workers last year and are looking to add another 23k this year. Apparently, the only thing growing faster than the patient list is the staff directory!
- 💨 On The Outside - The one exception is rural hospitals, which are struggling with reduced patient volumes and revenues. Sadly, Doc Hollywood was only fiction, and there aren't many docs heading out to the sticks.
- 💥 Grabby Grabberson - The boom laughs at market pricing, probably because of the managed care system which is just grabbing market share while setting prices without regard to actual cost. This has exploded healthcare prices, and with another 400k seniors in the state by 2035 it's not going to get any easier to reduce them.
🔥Bottom line: For better or worse, Michigan’s economic baseline is changing, and healthcare is now doing a lot of the heavy lifting. That could be good for jobs, but prices are already one of the biggest worries in the state, and it doesn't seem likely to get any better over time. So next time you go to the doctor, don’t expect the waiting room to get any shorter...or less expensive.
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