A July report from the Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform found that more than 600 rural hospitals in the U.S. are at risk of closing, including 46 percent of Mississippi's rural hospitals.
According to the report, 34 of the state's 73 rural hospitals are at risk, including 25 that are at immediate risk of closure.
Mississippi Hospital Association President and CEO Tim Moore told Super Talk Mississippi Media that Medicaid expansion offers hospitals the best chance for survival due to low rates of insurance coverage in rural areas.
"Those individuals are currently receiving care at hospitals and they're not in a situation where they can pay for the care, so expanding Medicaid funds those hospitals are care that they are already providing," Mr. Moore told Super Talk.