Republican Legislator Blames Failure Of Insure Tennessee For Latest Rural Hospital Closure [View all]

Tennessee's reluctance to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act is still being blamed for the high number of hospital closures in the state — the most in the U.S. outside of Texas. And this week brings one more. The Decatur County Commission decided to close its only hospital this week, citing the increased taxpayer subsidies.

Decatur General Hospital has struggled to keep its doors open for years, inking a management deal with Springfield-based NorthCrest Medical Center in 2016. The remote facility claimed harm from some of Obamacare's new admission standards that drove down insurance reimbursement. Meanwhile, the hospital did not get the intended benefit of more people with insurance.

The rural county of 11,000 on the banks of the Tennessee River is represented in the state legislature by Republican Steve McDaniel, who says more folks on TennCare would have helped.

"I can tell you this, that if we had expanded the Medicaid program as Governor Haslam had proposed, this hospital likely would not have closed," McDaniel said.

Read more: http://nashvillepublicradio.org/post/republican-legislator-blames-failure-insure-tennessee-latest-rural-hospital-closure#stream/0