September 24, 2014
The Department of Health and Human Services today projected that hospitals will save $5.7 billion this year in uncompensated care costs because of the Affordable Care Act. “Based on an estimated 10.3 million decrease in the total number of uninsured and an estimated 8 million increase in the number covered by Medicaid, [the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation] estimates that hospital uncompensated care costs will be $5.7 billion lower in 2014 than they otherwise would have been,” the report states. “This represents a 16% reduction from baseline uncompensated care spending.” The report estimates that $4.2 billion of the reduction will come from expansion of Medicaid to adults with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level in 25 states and Washington, D.C., as of the beginning of fiscal year 2014. Two additional states have expanded Medicaid under the ACA since then.
Source: AHA News
http://www.ahanews.com/ahanews/jsp/display.jsp?dcrpath=AHANEWS/AHANewsNowArticle/data/ann_092414_uncompensated&domain=AHANEWS