Dive Brief:
- Moody's Investors Service has raised its outlook on for-profit hospitals from "stable" to "positive."
- Moody's expects to see improvement in earnings this year, largely because 2013 was impacted by faltering patient volumes and cuts to Medicare reimbursement under sequestration.
- Moody's also expects to see for-profits enjoy a reduction in bad debt as more people obtain health insurance coverage under the ACA.
Dive Insight:
Yes, many more Americans will have insurance if the ACA continues to make it available. However, it's difficult to understand why Wall Street leaders like Moody's don't seem to be taking into account the enormous deductibles such policies bear. If an ACA beneficiary has a deductible of thousands of dollars, that still leaves hospitals with plenty of bad debt on their hands. Am I the only one who thinks that the insurance companies are the only ones really winning the ACA game?