Policy Orientation - 2015

In the ongoing debate over the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion in Texas, hospitals have consistently argued that expansion is necessary to make up for uncompensated care costs hospitals incur by treating the uninsured. Some have suggested that expansion could even reduce local property taxes that hospital districts in Texas assess to pay for uncompensated care. But are these claims accurate, and will expanding Medicaid solve the problem of uncompensated care at Texas hospitals?