Arizona Governor Jan Brewer announced that her state would expand its Medicaid program. The details of the plan are still being worked out. Even so, hospital executives are approving of the expansion of the Medicaid program. It would help them with the cost of uncompensated care.
In a surprising move, Governor Jan Brewer, of Arizona, has decided that her state will expand its Medicaid program. According to the LA Times, Governor Brewer said that if Arizona didn’t accept the federal funding to expand its Medicaid program that other states would claim that funding. She also said:
With this move, we will secure a federal revenue stream to cover the costs of the uninsured who already show up in our doctor’s offices and emergency rooms.
The state would receive $1.6 billion in federal funding. The funds would be used to provide health insurance coverage for an additional 240,000 residents, and also to continue insuring 50,000 childless adults.
Governor Jan Brewer’s plan would impose a tax on hospitals to raise $220 million a year. The money would pay the costs of the state to expand the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (which is the name of Arizona’s Medicaid program) to 138% of the federal poverty level. It currently accepts only those who are at 100% of the poverty level.
This would add about 240,000 people to Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System. A big part of making that possible would be the $1.6 billion a year that Arizona would receive from the federal government as part of the Affordable Care Act for expanding its Medicaid program.
Details of the hospital tax plan are being worked out. Even so, hospital executives are supportive of the plan to expand Medicaid. Judy Rich is the president and CEO of Tuscon Medical center. She said:
We’ve seen our uncompensated care close to triple in the last 18 months. And other hospitals across the state have also struggled under the weight of the dramatic increases of bad debt and charity care.
The president of Phoenix Children’s Hospital, Robert Meyer, noted that the costs of not having health insurance coverage are not just fiscal. He noted that people who are uninsured, and without the money to pay for their health care, do not have access to primary care physicians. Instead, they get sicker, until they end up in an emergency room. He said:
Let me assure you that treating high blood pressure in the emergency room is not going to get you well. It needs to be at the proper level of care.
Image by Jeremy Simpson on Flickr