Kaiser studies: Medicaid expansion aids hospitals’ bottom line

Two new Kaiser Family Foundation reports released this week found that in states that expanded eligibility for Medicaid, hospitals that handle large numbers of low-income patients are faring better under the Affordable Care Act than those in states that haven't (Source: “Studies: Hospitals fare better in states that expand Medicaid,” McClatchy News, April 30, 2015). 

The findings suggest that the health law, in states where it's fully implemented, is helping hospitals cut their uncompensated care costs, see fewer uninsured patients and increase their revenue from Medicaid, the state/federal health plan for the poor.

One study looked at the experiences of Ascension Health, a non-profit Catholic health system with 131 hospitals in 16 states and the District of Columbia.

Kaiser researchers found that Ascension hospitals in Medicaid-expansion states saw a 32-percent decline in visits by uninsured patients compared to just a 4-percent decline at their hospitals in non-expansion states.

In a separate study of nine safety-net hospital systems across the country, Kaiser found that five located in Medicaid-expansion states substantially increased their revenue from the program, while substantially reducing the amount of charity care they provided.