Two new studies highlight the heavy impact that state decisions not to expand Medicaid under the federal healthcare reform law will have on low-income Americans and community health centers that serve them.
Across the country, about 5.2 million low-income uninsured adults across the country will remain uninsured in 2014 because they fall into a coverage gap in the 25 states that so far have not expanded Medicaid to adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Read more »
Hospital leaders have warned state elected officials that failure to expand their Medicaid programs under the federal healthcare reform law will imperil the finances of many hospitals serving lower-income communities. They say they need the expansion to continue serving uninsured and underinsured people who have no way to pay for care.
Now a not-for-profit hospital system in North Carolina says it's closing one of its facilities because that state decided not to expand Medicaid to adults earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level. Vidant Health, with nine hospitals, says it will close Vidant Pungo Hospital, a 25-bed facility in the coastal town of Belhaven, within six months, costing about 100 employees their jobs.
Read more »
A large North Carolina hospital and a suburban Chicago system are the latest to trim their payrolls and point to revenue pressure from the federal healthcare reform law as a primary cause.
At Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., the belt-tightening hits the C-suite, including the CEO's salary.
Read more »
