There are pros and cons to Medicaid expansion, and valid arguments on both sides. A new study suggests another tally mark on the pro side, at least for rural North Carolina: rural hospitals may be hurt without expansion more than urban ones.
Here’s how they figure: rural hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid were more likely to turn a profit than similar hospitals in states that didn’t. Sounds conclusive, right?
Yes and no. The study looked at things like the number of Medicaid patients discharged, hospital revenue, and levels of care that patients can’t pay for. They concluded that rural hospitals in states with Medicaid expansion are more profitable. But these results aren’t mirrored in urban hospitals, suggesting that there’s a lot of complexity in this story.
(But you knew that already, right?)
Read more about the study results.
Regardless of your stance on Medicaid, it makes sense that if healthcare costs are lower for each of us, they’ll be lower for hospitals, too. Let’s work on that, shall we? Join us. We’ll tell you how.
