Cabinet offical says Medicaid expansion has created more jobs and additional income for healthcare providers

A top Kentucky health official is telling lawmakers that the expansion of Meidcaid is having a positive impact on healthcare employment in the state, as early predictions said it would.

The first year of Kentucky’s Medicaid Expansion has created new jobs and close to one billion dollars in Medicaid reimbursement to providers according to Eric Friedlander, Deputy Secretary for Health and Family Services.

Friedlander, who testified Monday before the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue, said that Bureau of Labor statistics have shown increases in jobs around the state coinciding with the Medicaid expansion.

Prior to the Medicaid expansion, an analysis of the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion in Kentucky predicted 17,000 new jobs would result in that expansion and Friedlander told the committee that he believes that to be on target.

“We think we’ve seen about 3,000 additional jobs just in health care alone”, said Friedlander.

Friedlander told the committee that the expansion has also benefited medical providers who have received additional income from expansion patients.

“From January to October, we know that Kentucky providers have received an additional $892 million just in expansion alone,” said Friedlander.

The reimbursement breakdown is as follows:

Outpatient Hospital $249,164,700
Pharmacy $202,165,200
Inpatient Hospital $171,341,300
Physicians $166,072,900
All Other $104,229,300
—————————————————————-
Total $892,973,500

Friedlander expects the total to be over $1 billion by the end of 2014.

In addition, Friedlander said that the numbers of uncompensated care cases, where hospitals receive no payment for services provided, are down with 28 hospitals reporting reductions in uncompensated care of 80 percent or greater.