In 2007, bad debt rising for hospitals

Citing rising costs from uninsured and underinsured patients, analysts say bad debt will continue to undercut hospitals' profits in the coming year, and there's no relief in sight. "[T]he uninsured and underinsured population is growing faster than hospitals can boost admissions or raise prices to insurers," said Robert Hawkins, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in Baltimore. The issue of uninsured and underinsured patients is a wide-ranging problem with no simple answer, though a number of states are working to provide basic coverage to all residents. But in the meantime, hospitals end up absorbing the costs for these patients. The bad debt they incur from treating patients will have an impact on publicly-traded hospitals' stock prices.

For more on hospital debt:
- check out this piece from the Tennessean

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