Rich Hospital, Poor Hospital Divided by Politics and a River
- Biggest Obamacare impact comes from Medicaid expansion
- 31 states adopted it, shoring up finances of their hospitals
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When hospital executive Jeanette Wojtalewicz visits CHI Health’s Mercy Council Bluffs facility across the Missouri River in Iowa, she sees the new clinics and doctors’ offices partly paid for by the state’s decision to expand Medicaid to thousands of residents.
Back on her side of the river is CHI Health’s Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, a state that opposed making more low-income people eligible for the government health-insurance program. While Mercy thrives about seven miles away, Creighton is cutting 250 beds to raise efficiency amid slumping financial results.