Some health care providers are seeing major benefits from the expansion of insurance coverage
Health care providers are beginning to see major payoffs from the expansion of health insurance coverage throughout the U.S. thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The federal law has made insurance coverage more accessible to a wider range of consumers and has also made coverage mandatory. The growing number of people with insurance coverage means that more people are seeking out medical care. For some providers, this is beginning to pay off handsomely.
Some hospitals are taking steps to promote insurance coverage
Not all health care providers are seeing financial success because of the law, of course, and some are growing more aggressive in their efforts to sign people up for insurance coverage. Such is the case for Cooper University Hospital, which is based in Camden, New Jersey, across the river from Philadelphia. The hospital often serves patients that come from Philadelphia, a city with a 40% poverty rate. Because many of the people that seek medical care cannot afford it, the hospital has begun to promote health insurance coverage, working to help its patients understand how they can sign up for affordable coverage through their state’s insurance exchange.
Consumers are unwilling to pay for coverage and medical care
The hospital has found modest success in this endeavor, but has encountered a serious problem. When consumers found out that they would have to pay for their insurance coverage, they were significantly less likely to sign up for health care plans. This is partly due to the lack of awareness regarding the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Many had believed that the law would make health care and insurance coverage free, but this was not the purpose of the law at all. Another issue is that many people believed that they were automatically eligible for their state’s Medicare program due to the provisions of the law, and this is not the case.
Some hospitals see only modest success in their insurance endeavors
Other hospitals in the U.S. have been taking a similar approach to encouraging people to purchase health insurance coverage. The University of Florida Health Jacksonville had been promoting insurance coverage, but saw such low enrollment response from patients that it decided to put this initiative to rest. Some hospitals have managed to find modest success in encouraging people to sign up for insurance coverage.
