Taxpayers Suffer Under Private Option
by Joyce Cook, Letter to Editor: In a recent story "Jonesboro's, two Arkansas hospitals back private option" raised the issue of the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals. The story says one major goal of the Arkansas Private Option was to reduce the financial strain on health care providers. Gov. Mike Beebe also touted fewer emergency room visits as a selling point of the private option.
NEA Baptist CEO Brad Parsons said uncompensated care makes up 11 to 15 percent of his hospital's business. This translates into about $4 million per year the hospital loses. Parsons and his counterpart at St. Bernards both defend the private option, which may not be funded in the upcoming Arkansas legislative session, beginning Feb. 10.
However, the private option is not the magic cure-all these officials say it is. According to a landmark study by the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, researchers found Medicaid did increase the use of preventive and primary-care services, but emergency-room use (uncompensated care) rose as well.
Over an 18-month period, 100 low-income, uninsured adults in the Portland area visited the ER once each, on average. When Medicaid made health care "free," these households made an additional 40 visits over that period a 40 percent increase. This study also indicated that Medicaid increases annual spending in the emergency department by about $120 per covered individual.
According to an article on Forbes.com, if Obamacare enrolls all 3.9 million individuals that it has identified as being eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP, the law could increase not reduce ER spending by half a billion dollars per year. If all 50 states had implemented the law's Medicaid expansion, the additional ER spending might have hit $1 billion per year
The hospitals will not be out any of the extra money for the skyrocketing use of the ER, but the taxpayers will. Hospitals typically cover these additional costs with higher prices for paying citizens anyway, so why increase that amount through the private option?
Add the cost of treating the illegal immigrants who will be drawn to Arkansas for all of its "freebies," and the citizens will pay for that, too. The hospitals may see this as an opportunity to increase their finances, but it will be the taxpayers who shovel out the money for it.
The bottom line is that hospitals are looking at the money; residents are looking at their personal health (or at health issues). Obamacare will destroy good medicine for everyone, just as socialistic health care systems have in other countries.
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Joyce Cook lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She is a conservative activist and former editor of a local newspaper - the Trumann Democrat.
Tags: private option, Obamacare, Arkansas, Oregon, letter to editor, Joyce Cook To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
NEA Baptist CEO Brad Parsons said uncompensated care makes up 11 to 15 percent of his hospital's business. This translates into about $4 million per year the hospital loses. Parsons and his counterpart at St. Bernards both defend the private option, which may not be funded in the upcoming Arkansas legislative session, beginning Feb. 10.
However, the private option is not the magic cure-all these officials say it is. According to a landmark study by the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment, researchers found Medicaid did increase the use of preventive and primary-care services, but emergency-room use (uncompensated care) rose as well.
Over an 18-month period, 100 low-income, uninsured adults in the Portland area visited the ER once each, on average. When Medicaid made health care "free," these households made an additional 40 visits over that period a 40 percent increase. This study also indicated that Medicaid increases annual spending in the emergency department by about $120 per covered individual.
According to an article on Forbes.com, if Obamacare enrolls all 3.9 million individuals that it has identified as being eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP, the law could increase not reduce ER spending by half a billion dollars per year. If all 50 states had implemented the law's Medicaid expansion, the additional ER spending might have hit $1 billion per year
The hospitals will not be out any of the extra money for the skyrocketing use of the ER, but the taxpayers will. Hospitals typically cover these additional costs with higher prices for paying citizens anyway, so why increase that amount through the private option?
Add the cost of treating the illegal immigrants who will be drawn to Arkansas for all of its "freebies," and the citizens will pay for that, too. The hospitals may see this as an opportunity to increase their finances, but it will be the taxpayers who shovel out the money for it.
The bottom line is that hospitals are looking at the money; residents are looking at their personal health (or at health issues). Obamacare will destroy good medicine for everyone, just as socialistic health care systems have in other countries.
------------
Joyce Cook lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas. She is a conservative activist and former editor of a local newspaper - the Trumann Democrat.
Tags: private option, Obamacare, Arkansas, Oregon, letter to editor, Joyce Cook To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
4 Comments:
Yes!
Joyce's letter was right on point.
The only thing the Democrats know and are taught is to tax the working to give to the non-working to buy their votes.
Call your Congressman!
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