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Hospital debt sees increase in 2007

E-Health Trend Watch, January 26, 2007

Healthcare analysts say bad debt stemming from uninsured and underinsured patients is undercutting hospital profits and statistics show there is no relief in the near future, according to an article in The Tennessean. The uninsured and underinsured population is growing faster than hospitals can boost admissions or raise prices to insurers, analysts with the Baltimore-based Stifel Nicolaus & Co. told the newspaper.

The number of uninsured Americans under age 65 has risen from 39.6 million in 2000 to 46.1 million in 2005, according to statistics from the Washington, DC-based Kaiser commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. The bad debt incurred from treating these patients will likely have an impact on publicly-traded hospitals' stock prices, according to the article.

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