Healthcare Mandate Repeal

Health Insurance Mandate Repeal


Repealing the health insurance mandate that has been set in place by former President Obama, will mean a decrease for the national deficit, but what will it mean for the people? What does this mean for healthcare organizations?

Let us first look at why we are repealing the health insurance mandate. By repealing the health insurance mandate, we can lower the federal budget deficit by $416 billion dollars between 2018 and 2026. That is a steep decrease. This decrease will directly relate to the amount of people who will no longer be receiving subsidized insurance. Whether through the Market Place, or through their employer. It is estimated that approximately 43 million people will be uninsured by 2026 (currently approximately 28 million are uninsured).

How will this affect healthcare organizations? Health care organizations will see a significant increase in uninsured patients coming into the Emergency Department for treatment. These patients are patients that cannot go to a private physician due to lack of insurance and the high amount of money it will cost to see the Doctor. In an office a patient either pays their bill either through insurance or out of pocket, or they do not receive treatment. A hospital is not able to do that. You are not aloud to turn a patient away because of their insurance status. This will result in more patients using the Emergency Department as a primary Doctor.

With the sharp increase in uninsured patients many hospitals will see a decrease in payment, where in the past they would have gotten reimbursed from insurance. One way that Hospitals can prepare for this and essentially counteract it is, charging private insurance companies more for their services. It is unfortunate that those who choose to pay for insurance will have to make up part of the difference. Another way is to bill out higher treatment costs for Medicaid and Medicare. This can only go so far as they already have an agreed upon fee for service amount. Lastly Hospitals will have to decrease their length of stay, as this will allow a quicker turnover. Hospitals usually get reimbursed based on diagnosis and not length of stay. If a patient stays an extra two days, the payment will be the same. In order to counteract the amount of uninsured, the hospital will have to have a quicker turnover of patients in order to get the most amount of reimbursement for their time spent.






References:

D. Moulds, “Repealing the Individual Health Insurance Mandate Restricts Freedom,” To the Point, The Commonwealth Fund, Dec. 8, 2017.

American hospital association. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj_zaHq9_3YAhUCJt8KHT_cA6Q4ChAWCEYwAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.healthmarkets.com%2Fresources%2Fhealth-insurance%2Ftrumpcare-news-updates%2F&usg=AOvVaw3y9QKDvn9YEeTmeniLBlHU

Health catalyst. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.healthcatalyst.com/success_stories/reducing-length-of-stay-in-hospital