Kentucky Hospitals Project $1.2 Billion Loss Thanks To Obamacare
Because in Kentucky, Obamacare will (surprise!) make more citizens dependent on government health care programs like Medicaid. And Medicaid, as an example, doesn’t reimburse hospitals for the full expense of providing care.
The Kentucky Hospital Association said in a report on Monday that Kentucky hospitals will lose $1.2 billion in revenues in the next 10 years because of health care reform.
Because Kentucky has one of the lowest income levels in the nation, the majority of uninsured Kentuckians will be covered under Medicaid rather than private health insurance, leaving the state with 25 percent of its population on Medicaid, the report said. Medicaid is jointly financed by federal and state tax dollars.
“Unfortunately, Medicaid only reimburses hospitals 85 percent of their actual costs… for Medicaid patients,” the report said.
The report also said that Kentucky hospitals will be losing $3.4 billion in Medicare payments, which will outweigh the additional expected revenue from the newly insured.
And guess what happens when care providers can’t provide care at a profit? Rationing. Or, put another way, a cut back in the quality of care you receive and the amount of care you can access.
And ask yourself this: With all these new people on Medicaid in Kentucky and other states, who pays for their care? Kentucky is currently facing a $1 billion budget short fall, and pretty much every other state in the union is running a budget deficit as well. And we all know the federal government, which also has a hand in shelling out for Medicaid, is broke as well.
So where’s this money going to come from? Some magical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?
Tags: kentucky, medicaid, obamacare
