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Pa. Hospitals See Progress In Major Financial Burden....But Could It Be Threatened?

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Pennsylvania hospitals have seen a steep drop in uncompensated care, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in savings under the Affordable Care Act. That's one reason hospitals are concerned about the latest effort to repeal the Act.

The Pennsylvania Hospital and Healthsystem Association saw the first decrease in uncompensated care in 15 years in 2015 -- the year the state expanded Medicaid -- and an even bigger drop in 2016, as 1.1 million Pennsylvanians got coverage. Policy director Jeff Bechtel says the Philadelphia area had some of the biggest savings.

"Uncompensated care dropped by 12.3 percent in 2015 and from '15 to '16 was actually down by 18.9 percent," Bechtel said.

That is exactly what the Affordable Care Act was designed to do, so Bechtel says hospitals are concerned about the current proposal, backed by the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, that would remove the ban on denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

"We're against changes to the ACA that reduce insurance coverage," he said.

Bechtel says it could be especially devastating to small community hospitals.

 

 

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