Hospitals are still in bad shape, says the president of the Indiana Hospital Association.

“We had a net loss at all the hospitals combined in the state of Indiana for 2022,” said Brian Tabor on Indy Politics. “They lost money as a system and will probably lose more money in 2023.”

The reason Indiana’s hospitals are running lower on funds than usual is a variety of factors, and he said it starts with the state legislature. He is urging them against passing a bill being considered now that would place a defacto price cap on certain hospital costs.

Tabor said that could cripple hospitals even more and in effect “squeeze the balloon” even tighter.

“The cap is set at a number that proponents will say represents some type of national average. It doesn’t,” Tabor said. “It unfairly represents Indiana. If it were to pass into law it would have devastating consequences.”

Tabor said that he is on board with lowering costs that Hoosiers with commercial insurance pay at hospitals. But, capping costs is not the right way to go about it. Tabor said to do that you have to go to the source, which he says is Medicaid.

“We have an incredibly under-funded Medicaid program in Indiana when it comes to Medicaid rates,” Tabor said. “The Medicaid program pays 53-cents on the dollar of costs.”

He said that means the hospital has to cover that left over 47-cents on the dollar, and the only way to do that is to pass those costs on to patients with commercial insurance or those not on Medicaid. He said if that cost shift is reduced, Hoosiers will see healthcare costs decrease.