Hospitals Benefit From Big Drop In Uninsured Patients Under Obamacare

[babylonsister]

Oh, woe is us! Spin this, rethugs!

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hospitals-drop-uninsured-obamacare-bloomberg

Hospitals Benefit From Big Drop In Uninsured Patients Under Obamacare

By Dylan Scott
PublishedJuly 31, 2014, 10:02 AM


Hospitals continue to report a significant drop in their number of uninsured patients as Obamacare coverage takes full effect, boosting their bottom lines, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

Hospital Corporation of America, the biggest for-profit hospital network in the country, reported a 6.6 percent decrease in uninsured patients across its 165 hospitals, according to Bloomberg. And in the four states where HCA operates that expanded Medicaid, the drop was 48 percent.

LifePoint Hospitals reported that the percentage of its patients paying for their own care declined from 7.1 percent to 4.8 percent over the last year, according to Bloomberg.

Those trends have led to a brightening financial outlook for the companies, according to Bloomberg. Both HCA and LifePoint increased their fiscal forecast recently as the increase in paying customers became clear. LifePoint specifically estimated that Obamacare added $13 million to its total earnings in the second quarter, 40 percent above its expectations.

Hospitals were one of the key stakeholders backing health care reform during the legislative debate, and the law now seems to be paying dividends for them. These new uninsured figures track with some previous reports from hospitals which, particularly in the Medicaid expansion states, have seen a steady decline in their uninsured patient population since January.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Oh, no! It just CAN'T be working!

[flamingdem]

2. K+R

[gwheezie]

3. I live in a state that refused mcaid expansion

Our hospital isn't doing better. We need the mcaid expansion. I can't tell you how many of my patients work at low wage part time jobs with no insurance who can't afford the exchange but would be covered if the demented lunatics in our legislature would expand mcaid.

[Doctor_J]

4. increased revenue was the main point of Heritage Care. why is this news?

It's often called the Profit Protection Act.

[babylonsister]

5. You never disappoint, I'll give you that.

This is good news whether you think so or not.

[IronLionZion]

9. Wouldn't hospitals get even more profit with single payer?

they profit from Medicare already.

[madokie]

12. Sure the hospitals would

but to hear them tell it they don't.

I had an inner ear injury several years ago and when it looked like I was going to have to pay out of pocket it was going to cost me 5 grand to fix it. I found out that work rehab would pay for it and the hospital and the doctor each charged the government, 6 grand for the hospital, 5 grand for the doctor, who did the operation, (11 grand total). This happened before I enrolled into the VA system.

ETA: In other words the hospital and doctor profited more from the operation when the government paid for it. In other words they Soaked the government, hence more profit for them.

[madokie]

11. Right on Cue

[riqster]

6. Good news indeed. Taking the cost of care out of the shadows and onto balance sheets.

[Hekate]

7. Fabulous. The future looks better for so many people.

Now IF the Dems would only make this part of each and every ad they produce we could make some headway in all those Red states that are screwing their own folks over. The GOP counts on their voters' utter ignorance, and it's not solely the fault of the voters that they are misinformed.

[Stuart G]

8. One of the greatest posts of all time... Because...

Last edited Sun Aug 3, 2014, 01:07 PM - Edit history (1)

Because it proves the Republicans were lying all along.
And they new it, couldn't care less whether hospitals survive or not.
Just like they couldn't care less if certain people survive or not..

they, the Republicans, care only about themselves..

Do you think that these people will admit that they were wrong???

[Cha]

10. Kick for the "evil" Obamacare!