MUST READ: AHIP Releases Study on Impact GRP Would Have on CA Hospitals
Posted by The Campaign on July 15, 2009 at 10:36 PM
Tonight, the Los Angeles Times reports on the health care reform debate and includes two mentions of a study being released by AHIP. AHIP's study, "An Illustration of the Impact on Hospitals in California of a Government-Run Health Plan that Pays Medicare Fee-for-Service Rates," examines the financial impact on hospitals if there were a large scale shift of individuals with private coverage to a government-run plan that reimburses providers at Medicare rates or Medicare rates plus 10 percent. For the full report, click here.
From the article:
- "California hospitals and insurers issued sharp warnings that a government insurance program could jeopardize patient care."
- "But AHIP is working to highlight what it says would be billions of dollars in lost revenues for California's hospitals should large numbers of Californians trade their commercial insurance for a government plan that pays providers less."
Key findings from the report include:
- California hospitals would face substantial net losses if there were a large scale shift of individuals with private coverage to a government-run plan that reimbursed providers at Medicare rates or Medicare rates plus ten percent.
- If only half of patients moved to a government-run plan that pays Medicare FFS rates, many California hospitals would be forced to operate at a net loss. If over time all patients moved to a government-run plan that pays Medicare FFS rates, every hospital in California would be operating in the red - a situation that is simply not sustainable.
- Even if a government-run plan paid Medicare rates plus ten percent, the data show that California hospitals would not be able to sustain a significant shift of patients away from private coverage and into a new government-run plan.
- If universal coverage was not achieved and hospitals were still burdened by uncompensated care costs, the impact of a government-run plan would be even worse.
