ACA Changes Could Strain Rural Hospitals

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - Health insurance costs could rise sharply across Arizona if federal Affordable Care Act premium tax credits are not extended, according to health policy experts.

More than 420,000 Arizonans, including just over 9,000 residents of Yuma County, receive their health insurance through the ACA exchanges. Michael Negron, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, says more than 90 percent of those households rely on premium tax credits.

Negron warns that if the tax credits expire, insurance premiums could increase, forcing many people to drop coverage.

Hospitals are required by federal law to provide emergency treatment, even if a patient does not have health insurance. Negron says that could increase what’s known as uncompensated care.

“So a county like Yuma, where the hospitals that operate typically have tighter margins because the populations are smaller,” Negron said, “will have those margins squeezed even more.”

Negron adds that if ACA tax credits expire along with past Medicaid cuts, hospitals could face significant financial strain.

“The combination of these two together is estimated to result in a loss of insurance for about 360,000 Arizona residents and about $800 million in additional uncompensated care, by 2034,” he said.

Negron says without relief, hospitals and providers could be at risk.

“We could see now hospitals and providers are at risk of closing absent some relief from the federal government,” Negron said.

Congress is expected to vote early next year on whether to extend the ACA premium tax credits.