Hospital leaders urge Congress to protect coverage

At a briefing today at the National Press Club, hospital leaders urged Congress to protect health coverage for the most vulnerable as it considers legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. “Our primary concerns are that the bill does not maintain coverage for the more than 22 million people who are currently receiving benefits under the ACA and that it uses Medicaid restructuring as a vehicle for making significant reductions in that program,” said AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. At the same time, he noted, the legislation fails to restore cuts to hospital payments that “will be needed to take care of an increased number of uninsured folks.” He urged Congress to “press the reset button and reboot” the American Health Care Act. Winona (MN) Health President and CEO Rachelle Schultz, who chairs the AHA’s Section for Rural Hospitals, said adding what could be tens of millions more people to the uninsured rolls would bring new budget pressures for hospitals and could frustrate their efforts to promote community health. “I am fearful that a lot of our work [in population health management] would go by the wayside,” she said.