As Virginia’s leaders debate and maneuver over the issue of expanding Medicaid, it is important to examine the financial health of the hospitals in our state, since hospitals are the largest single promoter of this proposed policy change. The financial health of the hospitals has become an issue because the hospitals have weighted in on the Medicaid expansion debate, arguing they need these federal dollars to survive. This report looks at the actual financial health of Virginia’s hospitals as reported on the Virginia Information website for November of 2013. The reader can decide for himself or herself if the hospitals need the “free federal money” offered by the proposed expansion of Medicaid by looking at the number in this report.
