OBAMAmess: Insurance Expansion From Obamacare Dents Funding, Leads to Clinic Closures

Some free health clinics serving the uninsured are shutting their doors because of funding shortfalls and low demand they attribute to the Affordable Care Act’s insurance expansion.

Nearly a dozen clinics that have closed in the past two years cited the federal health law as a major reason.

People waited to see a physician this month at the Western 
Stark Free Clinic in Ohio, where patient visits dropped 
after Medicaid’s expansion. Dustin Franz for WSJ

The closings have occurred largely in 28 states and Washington, D.C., which all expanded Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for low-income people, and are being heralded by some clinic officials as a sign the health law is reducing the number of uninsured.

But the closures have irked some patients and left pockets of uninsured people not covered by the law with fewer venues for care. Some of the roughly 1,200 U.S. free and charity clinics are struggling with a drop in funding because donors believe there is no longer a need for free or low-cost care in the wake of the health law. That is making it particularly difficult for clinics that still report strong demand, especially in states that didn’t expand Medicaid.

Dr. John Schuster examined Jeffrey Neace at the Western 
Stark Free Clinic in early December. Dustin Franz for WSJ

Over the past two years, donations to free and charity clinics, which in some cases charge nominal or sliding fees, have dropped 20%, according to a report this year by the National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. During that time, patient demand has risen 40%.

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