Ala. Hospitals Taking Hit
By Leah Cayson, The Decatur Daily, Ala. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"In
Spillers, who serves on the Alabama Hospital Association Board, said these problems are not limited to north
According to a report released by the
At the end of the last enrollment period, 97,838 Alabamians enrolled for health care through the marketplace.
Spillers said the hospital is also seeing more debt. People might have insurance, but they're underinsured, he said.
"Some people who had good insurance with good deductibles had to convert to plans with high deductibles," Spillers said. "I know many people personally that had
Spillers said hospitals are absorbing that cost of uncompensated care. The hospital and its affiliates' debt is up 1 to 2 percent this year.
"One percent of our system expenses is
Spillers said the
Expanding
Even though enrollment numbers are expected to increase, Alabama Arise health policy analyst
Singles with an annual income between
"Many people in
"People say the federal government is going to give us money, and there's no reason to not do it," Demyan said. "The money comes from somewhere."
"That's without the expansion. We simply can't afford it," Demyan said. "It's not that I hate people or am saying people are lazy. It's math."
Demyan said a better way to go about insuring more people is to grow the economy.
"We've got to repay the rainy day fund ... there will be a lot of tough budget decisions for everybody to keep what services have been given, let alone expanding them even more," Demyan said.
The enrollment for the marketplace will begin again
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