eVille Times: Medicaid

Showing posts with label Medicaid. Show all posts

Jul 7, 2025

Today's Belle

It's not good now, it wasn't much better before, and it's about to get a lot worse.

432 hospitals are already struggling, at risk of going under
46% of hospitals in rural areas are underwater
the hospital in McCook NE has announced it's closing soon
33 hospitals in Louisiana are teetering on the brink

And all that was happening before the Big Butt-Ugly Bamboozle gets around to cutting a trillion dollars out from under them.

Anyone who's not making north of about $400K, or isn't insured up around the platinum level will be negatively affected. And even then, shortages of care - care centers, services, and caregivers - will impact everybody.

The hospitals in areas that voted Republican by 2-to-1 and 3-to-1 margins are likely to flat-out disappear starting very soon, creating (or worsening) Maternity Care Deserts, and Chemo Deserts, and Dialysis Deserts, and Elder Care Deserts, and and and.

Maybe we should begin planning for "care shortages", and come up with something like Triage Protocols so clinicians can deal with the problems they're likely to encounter because of their ethical obligation to treat the patient in front of them regardless of that patient's ability to pay.

Alabama: Alabama Care
Alaska: DenaliCare
Arizona: Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS)
Arkansas: Arkansas Medicaid/Healthcare
California: Medi-Cal
Colorado: Health First Colorado
Connecticut: HUSKY Health/Connecticut Medicaid
Delaware: Diamond State Health Plan/Delaware Medicaid
Florida: Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC)
Georgia: Georgia Medicaid
Hawaii: Med-QUEST
Idaho: Idaho Medicaid
Illinois: Illinois Medicaid
Indiana: Hoosier Healthwise
Iowa: Iowa Medicaid
Kansas: KanCare
Kentucky: Kentucky Medicaid
Louisiana: Louisiana Medicaid
Maine: MaineCare
Maryland: Maryland Medical Assistance Program
Massachusetts: MassHealth
Michigan: Michigan Medicaid
Minnesota: Minnesota Health Care Programs
Mississippi: Mississippi Medicaid
Missouri: MO HealthNet
Montana: Montana Medicaid
Nebraska: Nebraska Medicaid
Nevada: Nevada Medicaid
New Hampshire: New Hampshire Medicaid
New Jersey: New Jersey FamilyCare
New Mexico: Turquoise Care
New York: New York State Medicaid
North Carolina: North Carolina Medicaid
North Dakota: North Dakota Medicaid
Ohio: Ohio Medicaid
Oklahoma: Oklahoma Medicaid
Oregon: Oregon Health Plan
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania Medicaid
Rhode Island: Rhode Island Medicaid
South Carolina: South Carolina Medicaid
South Dakota: South Dakota Medicaid
Tennessee: Tennessee Medicaid
Texas: STAR
Utah: Utah Medicaid
Vermont: Vermont Medicaid
Virginia: Virginia Medicaid
Washington: Washington Apple Health
West Virginia: West Virginia Medicaid
Wisconsin: Wisconsin Medicaid
Wyoming: Wyoming Medicaid

Jul 4, 2025

It Begins

We'll see how this LB1087 thing works out. Let's say I have my doubts about levying a tax on one hospital's Net Revenues to make up for shortfalls at other hospitals. That will likely push the profitable hospitals to increase their rates, which will push insurance carriers to boost premiums, which generally means a shrinking pie being fought over by profit-driven interests. And that almost guarantees a lower quality product.

Main thing to remember: The patient is not the customer. The patient is the product.

The Healthcare Division of USAmerica Inc makes its money by producing healthy patients.

Southwest Nebraska medical center announces plans to close, blames uncertainty over funding

The uncertainty over federal Medicaid funding appears to have claimed its first victim in Nebraska.

Community Hospital in McCook announced Wednesday that it will close Curtis Medical Center in Curtis, winding down its services over the next several months.

"Unfortunately, the current financial environment, driven by anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid, has made it impossible for us to continue operating all of our services, many of which have faced significant financial challenges for years," Troy Bruntz, President and CEO of Community Hospital, said in a news release.

The budget reconciliation bill that the House of Representatives voted to approve on Thursday contains several provisions that experts say will slash Medicaid, which rural hospitals are more dependent on than their urban counterparts.

Earlier this week, during a Zoom meeting put on by the multi-state organization United Today Stronger Tomorrow, officials estimated that up to six Nebraska hospitals could be forced to close if the bill passes.

"We currently have six hospitals that we feel are in a critical financial state, three that are in an impending kind of closure or conversion over to the rural emergency hospital model,” Jed Hansen, executive director for the Nebraska Rural Health Association, said during the meeting. "We would likely see the closures within a year to two years of once [the bill is] fully enacted.”

In a statement Thursday, the Nebraska Hospital Association said 44% of the state's rural hospitals are already losing money, and passage of the bill could lead to a $3.6 billion cut in funding to Nebraska hospitals over the next decade.

“Nebraska hospitals have been clear throughout this debate. This package will undermine health care in our state, hurt patients, and drive-up insurance premiums,” said Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital Association. “These changes will impose unprecedented cuts that threaten access to care, essential services, and the economic stability of hospitals across our region.”

“Nebraskans need to be aware that the day is coming when more than 70,000 citizens will lose Medicaid coverage, rural hospitals will be forced to eliminate service and some will close, and individuals and small businesses with commercial insurance will be forced to pay higher premiums to close the funding gap in our health care system,” Nordquist said.

But 1st District Rep. Mike Flood, who, along with Nebraska's other two representatives voted in favor of the bill, said the state will be somewhat insulated from the cuts.

That's because last month, Nebraska officials learned that the federal government had signed off on a plan to boost Medicaid reimbursements to rural hospitals.

Under LB1087, which the Legislature passed last year, the state's hospitals will pay a 6% tax on their net patient revenues to create a fund to get increased federal matching dollars for Medicaid.

Flood said Wednesday in an interview with PBS that the fund will amount to an additional $1 billion for the state's hospitals.

"That's a lot of money for a state with two million people," Flood said. "Now, will there have to be decisions made about how to properly use that money? Do we have to make sure that we don't have waste, fraud and abuse? Yes," he said.

"But we're talking about a system that is not getting shuttered. It is getting an increase. And, sure, somebody in one part of my state can say they have challenges. And I don't doubt that. But there's a lot of different reasons that those challenges come forward."