“We’ve seen no difference from the Affordable Care Act,” said John Haupert, Grady’s chief executive. Many patients “are still coming to us as a safety-net provider and falling under our charity care.”
Georgia is one of 20 states, disproportionately clustered in the South, that didn’t expand Medicaid. About 89% of those left out of the new Medicaid coverage, because their states chose not to expand the program, live in the South, Kaiser Family Foundation found.
Grady has a better financial outlook than many hospitals in states that didn’t expand Medicaid, thanks to a philanthropic campaign that has raised $350 million since 2008 to fund new infrastructure and expand clinical services. But, unlike Cook County, which has reduced some dependence on local government support with the help of Medicaid expansion dollars, Grady remains reliant on $57 million in tax support from two local counties. Without the local funding, Grady would be running a deficit.
“From a global perspective, it seems like the ACA is working,” said Kevin Holloran, senior director at Standard & Poor’s. But in non-expansion states, like Georgia, “it’s really a neutral. It’s just the status quo.”