STAT+: Hospital chain HCA warns of lower profits as more patients go uninsured

Article excerpt

The country’s biggest hospital chain lowered its 2026 profit outlook on Tuesday after treating more uninsured patients than expected in the second quarter.  Many of those uninsured patients had dropped their Affordable Care Act plans after losing enhanced subsidies, HCA Healthcare said, an early indicator of the fallout from the expiration of ACA enhanced premium tax credits in January.  All in, HCA now expects the increase in uninsured patients stemming from the end of those subsidies to lower its income by between $1 billion and $1.2 billion this year, up from an earlier projection of a $600 million to $900 million hit.  Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…