Coverage gap leaves rural TN hospitals on life support

Four rural hospitals have closed and dozens are at risk of shuttering: That's the fallout, some say, from Gov. Bill Haslam's decision not to join the Affordable Care Act in 2013 and tap into millions in promised federal funds for Tennessee's financially-strapped health care institutions. Of some 125 hospitals statewide, three facilities closed in West Tennessee since the governor rejected conventional Medicaid expansion – Haywood Park Community Hospital in Brownsville, Camden General and Gibson General. Another in Scott County in East Tennessee shut down, before reopening, according to Tennessee Hospital Association Executive Director Craig Becker.