• Home

Bernd Meier

Home health care costs health insurance health reform hospitals managed care Medicaid obamacare Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Health reform law has been good for hospital finances, health-care costs, Obama administration says

Health reform law has been good for hospital finances, health-care costs, Obama administration says

Written by Unknown on 8:15 PM ,
U.S. hospitals have saved billions of dollars because the federal health-reform law has provided coverage for patients who were once charity cases, the Obama administration announced Monday, the fifth anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"Hospitals also saw fewer emergency room visits, which rack up far higher costs and often leave hospitals with the tab," Sarah Ferris writes for The Hill, which covers Congress. "The government’s report, which focuses on the benefits of Medicaid expansion, is an effort to entice states that have been politically resistant to expanding the program."

Kentucky hospitals have acknowledged that the law has reduced their losses from "uncompensated care," but say other aspects of the law have created a mixed effect, depending partly on hospitals' ability to adapt. The increase in coverage has brought hospitals much more money, but they say continued problems with managed-care Medicaid have cause them financial difficulty.

From paying patients' point of view, the law appears to have reduced inflation in health-care costs, but has not achieved advocates' goal of reducing costs. A White House report said, "Since the Affordable Care Act was enacted, health care prices have risen at the slowest rate in nearly 50 years. Thanks to exceptionally slow growth in per-person costs throughout our health care system, national health expenditures grew at the slowest rate on record from 2010 through 2013."

For the White House's Kentucky-specific list of benefits of the law, click here.
Tweet
Newer Post Older Post

Popular Posts

  • Lexington is considering whether to add electronic cigarettes to its anti-smoking ordinance
    The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council will discuss whether to expand its smoking ban to include electronic cigarettes, possibly as earl...
  • As part of UK campus food deal, Aramark puts up $5 million for Food Connection, vows to purchase Kentucky products
    By Melissa Patrick Kentucky Health News The University of Kentucky has entered a $5 million public-private partnership designed to promote ...
  • Heavy use of e-cigarettes may deliver big doses of formaldehyde, which can be a cause of lung cancer, study suggests
    Vapor produced by electronic cigarettes can contain a surprisingly high concentration of formaldehyde—a known carcinogen that can cause lun...
  • Ten common myths about diabetes busted
    Kentucky ranks 17th in diabetes, and many Kentuckians are newly diagnosed every year with the disease, usually Type 2 diabetes. The diagnosi...
  • Ky. ranks 8th in the number of high-prescribing Medicare physicians for powerful narcotic painkillers and stimulants
    Kentucky ranks eighth in Medicare physicians who are considered "high prescribers" of Schedule 2 medications, drugs that have the ...
  • Newport school board's smoking ban, which includes e-cigarettes, would be 38th among 173 Kentucky school districts
    The Newport Independent Board of Education  passed the first reading of a proposed smoking ban Wednesday, Jan. 28 after adding electronic ci...
  • Millions of children on Medicaid are missing free check-ups; Kentucky is a little below the national average
    Millions of low-income children across the country aren't getting free preventive exams and screenings guaranteed by Medicaid, and some ...
  • Obamacare seems to be no plus for Kentucky Democrats, perhaps mainly because of the word's first three syllables
    Though the federal health-reform law has helped cover more than half a million Kentuckians and cut the state's uninsured population by h...
  • McConnell seeks 'timely and fair review' of plan for Medicare coverage of CT scans for those at high risk for lung cancer
    U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell asked Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services  Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to "give a timely and fair r...
  • Research suggests eating only during a nine- to 12-hour time period can help maintain healthy weight
    For a long time, scientists supposed that eating after midnight was unhealthy, but now a study has provided support for the notion. When sci...
Bernd Meier © . All Rights Reserved. Powered by Blogger