Dive Brief:
- Hospitals in the 25 states not expanding Medicaid next year will face "greater financial challenges and rating pressure," according a Fitch Ratings report.
- Hospitals and health systems in states opting out of the Medicaid expansion should lose more than $200 billion in added revenue over the next 10 years.
- The gradual erosion of Disproportionate Share funding will further hurt finances and credit of hospitals in states that don't expand the Medicaid program.
Dive Insight:
Hospitals are in no position to give up $200 billion in revenue. As hospital leaders get a sense of just how much they stand to lose without a Medicaid expansion, they're likely to storm their statehouses and demand that the state governments take the Medicaid expansion money, for cryin' out loud. The politics of "Obamacare" are such that this threat may not convince non-participating state governments, as this is part of their protest against the ACA. Still, if I were a hospital leader I'd be lobbying like crazy anyway.