Tenet gains from Obamacare in states that expanded Medicaid
Tenet Healthcare Corp. is getting a boost from Obamacare because its hospitals are spending less on charity care for uninsured patients in states that have expanded Medicaid.
In those states, including California and Arizona, emergency room visits by the uninsured and charity cases have dropped 28 percent and admissions for those patients have fallen 33 percent since Jan. 1, Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter said.
In states that didn’t expand Medicaid, such as Texas and Florida, hospital admissions for the uninsured have increased 2 percent while ER visits have decreased 6 percent.
The declines will help Tenet’s bottom line as the Dallas-based hospital operator has been spending about $700 million a year on care for patients who can’t pay for it. More than 3 million people signed up for Medicaid in the 27 states that chose to expand the joint federal-state insurance program for the poor to include those making as much as 138 percent of the federal poverty limit, or $15,856 for a single adult.
More at http://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/20140520-tenet-gains-from-obamacare-in-states-that-expanded-medicaid.ece .
