Some Little Known Subsidy Cuts to "Safety-Net" Hospitals, May Leave Some Without Care . . . . .

As various subsidies to hospitals that provide care to the uninsured, especially those that do not qualify for Medicaid, are implemented - some could be left with nowhere to go for much needed medical care.

The Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act would have provided coverage to many of these people.  But - since Supreme Court ruled that the states would have to be given the ability to "opt out" of the Medicaid expansion, many did.  That leaves a gaping hole in the body of people who would have been covered by the expansion.  Without the expansion, many of these individuals will not qualify for Medicaid - AND - they may not qualify for a federal subsidy to purchase health insurance through the new health insurance marketplaces.  An individual must have a Modified Adjusted Gross income of $11,490 to qualify for a subsidy.  If you make less, but do not qualify for Medicaid coverage, you will have no options other than to pay full price for a health insurance policy - which many cannot possibly afford.

Hospitals that previously might have cared for these patients because they were subsidized for doing so, will now have those subsidies cut and may need to begin to refuse care or turn people away.

The Wall Street Journal published a good article that explains the predicament very well.  Read more here . . . .

Obviously, some adjustments will need to be made to the health care law to compensate for these unexpected situations arising out of modifications in the law to date.  A lot of delivery of care and coverage issues were hoped to be solved with the Medicaid expansion.  Since that was limited significantly, large groups of people who had counted on it as a mechanism for health care coverage will be left behind once again and will remain uncovered, unless something is done to correct that.

Repealing Obamacare - What are the consequences?

Bob Laszewski's review of what might happen if Romney were to win the presidency and make good on his promise to repeal or defund the Health Care Reform law (PPACA), is a concise analysis of some of the difficulties with either scenario and the unintended consequences.

Usually the Congress attempts to fix troublesome aspects of larger pieces of legislation, rather than this "all or nothing" stance that seems to prevail now.  "All or Nothing" is usually not a realistic scenario.

A lot of money has already been spent implementing this law, and more is on the table in both the public and private sectors.  Will all of that be for nothing?  Bob raises many issues and questions that need to be considered.  I could only hope that Mr. Romney might read Bob's blog post . . . .

Read Bob's Article here . . . .

13 States Cut Medicaid To Balance Budget

Here is the just the beginning of the state's activities surrounding Medicaid and the actions that will be a direct result of the Supreme Courts' ruling on this particular piece of the health care law. 

If Medicaid is used as simply a budget reduction tool, the states that use it as such, may find themselves with a different type of crisis down the road that could prove more costly.  Medicaid funds pay for much of the long term care coverage in this country - that's nursing home care primarily - and with the population aging, people living much longer and pensions being almost non-existent for the generations to come, cuts to Medicaid could be devastating long term.

Read the article for yourself below:

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/July/25/medicaid-cuts.aspx

States Continue to Cut Medicaid - Hospital Stays Reduced Due to Cost

Once again, Medicaid is the target of cuts that will most likely result in the rest of us bearing the cost of hospitals "eating" the costs they incur that are not reimbursable.  They cannot turn those that are already sick or in need of treatment away, as they can't just flip people already in the hospital out of their beds when an arbitrary date comes around.  If they have to absorb those costs, the rest of us will end up paying for it in higher insurance rates & in other ways - maybe even through other cuts to programs we may want sustained over time, like Medicare.

Maybe one big cost we could cut here in the US would be the cost of healthcare benefits for our members of Congress . . . .I'm tired of paying for them . . . . .

Read more here:  http://www.zanebenefits.com/blog/2011/10/425/States+Continue+to+Cut+Medicaid+-+Hospital+Stays+Reduced+Due+to+Cost