In New Orleans, a government audit has painted a bleak of assessment of the city’s health care needs. According to the Government Accountability Office, New Orleans has only 456 staffed hospital beds, compared with more than 2200 before Hurricane Katrina. The audit also found that some patients have waited up to two hours to be unloaded from ambulances. Patients have been placed in the emergency room because of unavailable beds. Three quarters of the medical clinics that treated low-income New Orleans residents before the storm are now closed. The audit also noted the government’s estimate for the cost to repair two Lousiana State University hospitals meets only ten percent of actual needs.