MILWAUKEE -- Aurora Health Care will implement another 4.5 percent price increase in 2018.
Last year, Aurora Health Care also increased the price of services by 4.5 percent, which was slightly higher than the state national average of 3.72 percent for 2017, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.
A spokesperson for Aurora, Tami Kou, said that the increase will apply "only to a small portion of services based on a fee-for-service-model."
Kou said a price increase is necessary to address high levels of bad debt, charity and uncompensated care, and underfunded government programs.
Including Medicare and Medicaid, which they say accounted for a slightly larger percentage during the current fiscal year.
The Milwaukee Business Journal reported that Aurora’s “bad debt” increased to $123.3 million through the first nine months of this year compared with $101.6 million during the same period of 2016.
Aurora is Wisconsin's largest healthcare system. The organization reported improvements for the third quarter, and executives attribute them to last year's price increase.
