Posted on November 15, 2010 17:37
Categories: Medicaid | State and Local | Legislative and Regulatory Issues
Topics: Cost-effectiveness | Health Care Reform | Legislation (National) | Medicaid | Providers | Rates/Reimbursement | Spending
The American Action Forum released a brief examining the impact of the national health care reform law on Medicaid and health spending. The brief notes that the law will dramatically expand coverage, but suggests that the increase in Medicaid beneficiaries will result in higher emergency room (ER) utilization rates, because Medicaid reimbursement rates for primary care are too low to ensure access.
From the report:
he Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expands insurance coverage in the United States. Importantly, the Obama reform’s coverage expansions are built around a strategy of expanding Medicaid. These expansions are problematic in a variety of ways. They are likely to dramatically expand the use of emergency room care, as Medicaid’s low reimbursement rates limit beneficiaries’ access to primary care physicians. In doing so, they will expand – not reduce – the overall economic cost of the U.S. health care system. We estimate that the emergency department impacts alone will generate 68 million visits and add $36 billion to the nation’s healthcare bill. These additional costs will pose a financial threat to state budgets and hospital finances, especially as the reform also reduces funding dedicated to reimbursing hospitals for uncompensated care.
Full Report: Healthcare Reform and Medicaid:Patient Access, Emergency Department Use, and Financial Implications for States and Hospitals (PDF | 151 KB)
American Action Forum. (2010). Healthcare reform and Medicaid: patient access, emergency department use, and finacial implications for states and hospitals. Holtz-Eakin, D. and Ramlet, M.
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