What are DSH Funds, and why could this bankrupt hospitals, especially urban/rural if the ACHA passes

[Sgent]

DSH, or Disproportionate Share Funds, were funds that were provided to hospitals, based on patient demographics (income, etc.) to compensate them for otherwise uncompensated care.

Obama got rid of them the help pay for the ACA; however, the increased insured / Medicaid population made up for this shortfall.

The republican plan does not put the funds back in to hospitals.

Without DSH funds, and with 24 million+ losing coverage, urban and rural hospitals (which tend to have the most uninsured) will start going bankrupt quickly. Even worse, those who don't go bankrupt make restrict who can come to the hospital.

Since the 80's when people were getting kicked out of the ER, the Emergency Treatment and Labor Act requires hospitals to treat everyone who arrives in the ER -- but there is a loophole. Hospitals can decline Medicare and Medicaid, and ask for your insurance card when you walk in the door.

Either way, the Republican plan winds up with no hospitals, or no ER's without an insurance card. Possibly even hospitals where Medicare isn't accepted.

[global1]

1. With 24 Million Americans Losing Their Insurance....

we won't need that many hospitals anyway. (sarcasm)

[Lucinda]

2. KNR

[lark]

3. 2 loopholes.

EMTALA also doesn't require treatment at the hospital, it just requires stabilization. So, in a car accident where someone has a broken leg, they will splint the leg, prescribe (not give) some pain pills and tell them to come back in 3 days for an x-ray. Guess what the patient often has to have to get seen again, money or insurance.

[mwooldri]

4. This is one reason why my sister won't work here.

She's a registered nurse, NHS trained, with work experience in New Zealand. She does not want to put herself in a position to have to turn away people who need care but can't afford it. This is why the NHS is absolutely marvellous. Everyone gets treated, no matter your income.

Just nationalise healthcare now. No more insurance networks, no more employers fiddling around with healthcare. Single payer base network for everyone. Private insurance can exist for the nice extras (private rooms in hospitals, bypass waiting lists for non urgent elective care). And America can afford it right now.

[lark]

5. Great ideas, but to Repugs this would be anathema.

It doesn't meet their principals of no government $$ for anyone but the rich and it would help the working class be more healthy and less likely to work for slave wages. All of these are awful things in their hate driven world.