Hospitals holding off on expansion projects because of ACA uncertainty
With the ultimate fate of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and healthcare policy remaining a mystery under a Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump, some U.S. hospitals have decided this isn’t the right time to take on big projects.
Reuters reports the uncertainty has led some facilities to “delay expansion plans, cut costs or take on added risk to borrow money for capital investment projects.”
In one example, Denver Health Medical Center is holding off on a $73.7 million renovation for five of its clinics because the low-income patients it intended to serve may lose coverage if the Medicaid expansion is rolled back.
“We want to know what will happen with the Medicaid expansion population, and what will be the timeline for that,” said Denver Health CFO Peg Burnette. “Due to the uncertainty, we're not going to issue new debt. We have no plans for that in the near future.”
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John joined TriMed in 2016, focusing on healthcare policy and regulation. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago, he worked at FM News Chicago and Rivet News Radio, and worked on the state government and politics beat for the Illinois Radio Network. Outside of work, you may find him adding to his never-ending graphic novel collection.