Article

Without Medicaid,Hospitals May Pay Patient Premiums

Uncompensated care was supposed to be a thing of the past, but it's persisting in many states not expanding Medicaid eligibility. As an alternative, for some high-cost uninsured patients, hospitals are turning to a new option.

Uncompensated care was supposed to be a thing of the past, but it's persisting in many states not expanding Medicaid eligibility. As an alternative, for some high-cost uninsured patients, hospitals are turning to a new option.

In his 32 years working in insurance operations at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Pat Riley has seen the problem of uninsured patients ebb and flow — with poor health outcomes for individuals and uncompensated costs for the health system — and the Great Recession brought another surge.

Now director of insurance at Forrest General, the 512-bed flagship of Forrest Health, Riley is optimistic about the potential of the Affordable Care Act. While Mississippi, like 23 other states, isn’t expanding Medicaid eligibility to low-income childless adults, those earning above 100 percent of the federal poverty level can get premium and cost-sharing subsidies for exchange plans — a message that Riley and Forrest Health try to hammer home to the residents of greater Hattiesburg through participation in health fairs, town halls, public service announcements and outreach to patients.

Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/1rRjunI

Source: Healthcare Payer News

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