Will Medicaid expansion reduce health care costs?
If
Hospitals and others supporting the expansion say they will start getting paid for services they now provide as charity, and that payment will reduce shifting costs to customers who are insured.
Yet an executive with the MHA, the lobby for
"If we were operating in an environment where only one thing was happening, then we could say, 'definitely, yes,'" said
Olsen said expanding
However, hospitals face many financial pressures, Olsen said, depending on their size and changing laws and the health insurance market. An influx of new income won't translate directly to lower prices, he said.
A spokesman for the state's largest private health insurer,
Reducing uncompensated care is one factor in determining health insurance premiums, said
Doran said expanding
Last month, Sen.
The state auditor then would devise rules to force health insurers to reduce premiums by half that amount.
The amendment failed, and
However, Laslovich said if health care providers start getting more money from
Sen.
If that result doesn't occur, lawmakers might consider further action, he said.
"I think the private sector will handle it," Buttrey said. "When insurers go out and negotiate rates with their provider networks, they're going to see cheaper rates, because uncompensated costs have dropped."
MHA's Olsen said it should work out that way, but warns that other factors will influence health care prices and insurance premiums.
Insurers already are renegotiating contracts with hospitals to get lower prices,
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