GOP refusal to expand Medicaid causes hospital closures
The Obamacare website is open for business. But the Charlton Memorial Hospital in Folkston, Georgia, is closed. Because Republicans in half the states have blocked the expansion of Medicaid, funds to public hospitals with large uninsured populations have been slashed. So far, at least five public hospitals have been closed this year and 5,000 hospital employees have been laid off nationwide. The closures are expected to worsen in the coming years.
In Georgia, as many as 15 more rural hospitals may close "within months" and in Tennessee, which is putting off a decision on expanding Medicaid, almost half of the 61 rural hospitals in the state might face "major cuts or closure." This is a direct — and disastrous — consequence of Republicans' ideological opposition to Obamacare.
When the Affordable Care Act was originally passed, subsidies to hospitals with large uninsured "charity care" populations were cut, figuring that the expansion of Medicaid under the law would replace this funding. But then the Supreme Court ruled that states could decide whether to expand Medicaid or not. Half the states have said they will not extend Medicaid or are putting off deciding. These are states mostly controlled by Republican governors, state legislatures, or both.
There was really no downside to extending Medicaid to cover individuals who earn up to 133% of the federal poverty level. The federal government is covering 100% of the cost of Medicaid for the next two years and 90% afterward. Columnist Josh Barro has pointed out the bind: "
W)hen Republican state officials decline to participate, they will have to explain to both medical providers and potential Medicaid beneficiaries that they turned down free federal money just to spite the President." And yet the 25 states that have indeed refused Medicaid expansion will soon find they're not just spiting the President but also their own citizens.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/05/opinion/kohn-hospitals-medicaid-close/index.html?c=&page=0
= new reply since forum marked as read
