Colin Woodard, Portland Press Herald - Love
it or hate it, the Affordable Care Act has helped Maine’s hospitals
stay solvent, and experts fear its repeal could make it hard for some of
them to avoid cutbacks and even closure....
Absent a comparable
alternative, an ACA repeal would leave 80,000 Mainers who receive health
insurance through its exchange without coverage. Some would presumably
find alternate coverage, but tens of thousands would not be able to
afford it, meaning big losses for Maine’s hospitals and clinics, which
are obligated by state law to provide “medically necessary” care to
those unable to pay.
“We’re all worried,” says Jeffrey Austin,
vice president of government affairs at the Maine Hospital Association,
who estimates that the state’s hospitals receive $200 million a year
from ACA-subsidized insurance policies. “The average operating margins
in Maine hospitals are about 1 percent. There just isn’t room for
dramatic negative impacts.”
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