Ryan
Haygood, Health Care Policy Intern
The Affordable Care Act sought to finance
coverage expansion in part by cutting payments to hospitals in Medicare Part A
in order to adjust for projected gains to hospital productivity, as a Brookings event highlighted this week.
This and other payment reforms have substantially reduced hospitals’
profitability under Medicare, with their margins dropping from negative 5 to about
negative 10 percent between 2013 and 2017. Meanwhile, despite the fact that
Medicare and Medicaid pay for the majority of all hospital services,
overall hospital margins remain strong, averaging 8 percent, due
to high rates for private insurance. (Of
course, there are exceptions: small,
rural hospitals often face negative margins and are closing at
an increasing rate.) Although many rightly worry about excessive spending in
the private market, Medicare-for-All, which fixes all hospital
payments to Medicare rates, would likely significantly diminish medical access
for everyone by putting many hospitals out of business.
https://www.americanactionforum.org/weekly-checkup/maybe-you-cant-keep-your-plan-after-all/#ixzz5sesvZZbO
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