Alaska Non-Profit Hospitals Net Assets Up 57% Under Obama and the Affordable Care Act.....Mark Begich Has Been Right on Health Care

From a review of the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA), I found 2 Non-Profit Hospital Organizations and 1 Hospital Foundation headquartered in the State of Alaska and with Net Assets (i.e. Financial Strength or Total Assets minus Total Liabilities) at the most recent date of more than $50 mil each.  Below here are the Net Assets of these 3 at both the most recent reported date and also at the Fiscal Year End (FYE) closest to the beginning of the Obama Administration:

						FYE	Balance	Net
				Most		Balance	Sheet	Assets
			Most	Recent		Sheet	Net	%
			Recent	Balance		Date	Assets	Change
			Balance	Sheet		Beginning	Beginning	During
	City	State	Sheet	Net		Obama	Obama	Obama
Hospital Organization	HQs	HQs	Date	Assets		Admin	Admin	Admin
				mil $s			mil $s
Providence Health Alaska Region	Anchorage	AK	Dec 13	937		Dec 08	585	60%
Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation	Fairbanks	AK	Jun 14	287		Dec 08	195	48%
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital/Denali Center/Tanana Valley Clinic	Fairbanks	AK	Dec 13	54		Dec 08	35	56%
Total all 3				1,278			814	57%

As you can see from the above chart, the Total Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 3 Alaska Hospital Organizations increased by a robust 57% so far during the Obama Administration.  Providence Health only discloses its Alaska Region Net Asset amounts annually.  If its Alaska Region Net Asset Growth in the first half of 2014 matched that of the entire Providence Health, the Providence Health Alaska Region Net Asset amount at June 30, 2014 would increase to $1,050 mil, up 78% from December 31, 2008 and the resultant Net Asset growth of the above 3 Alaska Hospital Organizations combined would be 70% rather than the above 57%.

Very positively impacting this very robust increase in the Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 3 Alaska Hospital Organizations were actions taken by both the Obama Administration and the US Fed to strengthen the US Financial Foundation which was severely damaged from the financial meltdown in late 2008.

In addition, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has also played a key role in this impressive increase in Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these 3 Alaska Non-Profit Hospital Organizations.

A remarkable thing is that these very robust increases in Net Assets (Financial Strength) of these Non-Profit Hospital Organizations occurred when these Non-Profit Hospitals were also playing very instrumental roles in the substantial annual percentage growth reduction of Total US Health Care Costs which occurred in each of the most recent three years under the ACA.

With such impressive Net Asset percentage increases of these 3 Alaska Hospital Organizations, a key beneficiary of this has been and will continue to be Alaska citizens electing to buy health insurance on the Health Insurance Exchange.  This strong Net Asset growth gives these Alaska Hospitals the financial flexibility to moderate their pricing for hospital and other health care procedures in their negotiations with health insurance companies which ultimately determines what insurance premium prices are set at by health insurance companies on the Health Insurance Exchange.
 
Also from a review of audited annual financial statements shown at Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA), I found 1 Alaska Non-Profit Hospital Organization with Net Assets above $400 mil.  The Alaska Region of the massive Providence Health Services had Total Net Assets of a huge $937 mil at December 31. 2013.

The Alaska Region of Providence Health generated Total Bottom Line Net Income of a spectacularly off-the-charts 14.8% of Total Operating Revenues in 2013 and another spectacularly off-the-charts 14.1% of Total Operating Revenues in 2012.  Whew!

These spectacular Net Income Margin Percentages were substantially higher that of the 30 Dow Industrials combined.

The only problem with these exceptional operating results in both 2013 and in 2012 was that instead of taking the high road and responsibly reducing its Patient Service Pricing, the Alaska Region of Providence Health elected to retain these excessively high Bottom Line Profits, which also added to both its Net Assets and its treasure chest of Investments in Stocks and Bonds.

Below are the Bottom Line Net Income and Total Operating Revenues for the Alaska Region of Providence Health Services for 2013 and for 2012:

			2013				2012
		Recent	Bottom	2013	2013		Bottom	2012	2012
		Fiscal	Line	Total	Net		Line	Total	Net
		Year	Net	Operating	Income		Net	Operating	Income
Alaska Hospital Organization	City HQs	End	Income	Revenues	Margin		Income	Revenues	Margin
			mil $s	mil $s	%		mil $s	mil $s	%
Non-Profit Hospital
Providence Health Alaska Region	Anchorage	Dec 13	114	771	14.8%		103	731	14.1%

There is a very positive aspect to these excessively high Bottom Line Profits of the The Alaska Region of Providence Health Services Non-Profit Hospital Organization.  These incredibly high Profits are getting added to the Net Assets (Financial Strength) of the Alaska Region of Providence Health.

Thus a key beneficiary of this should be Alaska citizens electing to buy health insurance on the Health Insurance Exchange.  This exceptional Net Asset growth driven by these exceedingly high Bottom Line Profits gives The Alaska Region of Providence Health the financial flexibility to moderate its pricing for hospital and other health care procedures in its negotiations with health insurance companies which ultimately determines what insurance premium prices are set at by health insurance companies on the Health Insurance Exchange.

And armed with audited financial data concerning the excessively high profits earned by the Alaska Region of Providence Health Non-Profit Hospital Organization, Health Insurance Companies should be able to do a much better job in representing their policy holders, including those getting Health Insurance on the Health Insurance Exchange.