Health care roundtable mulls threat of Affordable Care Act’s repeal

Santa Cruz Sentinel (CA)

Jan. 15--MOSS LANDING -- A roundtable of health care officials met with Rep. Jimmy Panetta on Saturday at Moss Landing Marine Labs to discuss House and Senate majorities trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act by Jan. 27.

The act has been in the works since 2010 and on Jan. 1, 2014, the Health Insurance Marketplace was rolled out at the same time Covered California was introduced.

Panetta sat at the head of a table of health care leaders from Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties. The leaders described fears of losing patients' trust in an changing political environment and had questions about what a repeal would mean for the Central Coast.

The Associated Press reported that the Senate voted 51-48 Thursday for a nonbinding Republican-supported measures to repeal the act as early as next month. A House majority on Friday also approved the rollback legislation.

But there is no certainty about the act's replacement.

As to whether the GOP has a plan, Panetta said "not that I know of."

"I have yet to see it," Panetta said. "And we're waiting."

Erica Padilla-Chavez, CEO of Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance, leads the spinoff of a district drug and alcohol prevention program. She said her patients are concerned about the future of their coverage.

"How do we ensure a health care culture of positivity," she said. "Our fear is they're going to stop showing up for their appointments."

Max Cuevas, CEO of Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas, said there is a prevalence of diabetes in the Latino community.

He said health care providers should pursue a simple model in case the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

"We have to get back to the basics," he said.

Dori Inda, director of Watsonville's Salud Para La Gente, said federal discussions of immigration reform fall within the framework of public-health discourse.

Among its many tenets, the Affordable Care Act broadened definitions of care to include preventative care and community health.

For other leaders, the pending repeal provides opportunity for discussion of the act's success and shortcomings.

"I believe the ACA had the right idea," said Pete Delgado, CEO of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System. "It was not perfect because the mandate was not funded."

Dr. Larry deGhetaldi, president of Sutter Health, said the act was not designed to be dismantled easily.

He said requirements by the act drove many health systems to expand. Those include community health requirements that push hospitals to prevent return visits and promote healthy living rather than just treating ailments.

"Hospitals, clinics and physician groups have begun to hire caseworkers, community health workers," he said. "An unwinding of the Affordable Care Act would mean they have to cut their staffs in half."

After the roundtable, Panetta said Congressional delegates on both sides of the aisle are realizing the complexities that would require a complete repeal of the act.

"If you just repeal it without a replacement, they're going to add to the debt," Panetta said. "If you repeal it without a replacement, you're going to harm the people that were talked about around this table: people who are the most vulnerable; people who are benefitting from the ACA."

He said health care has become a political issue that could generate opportunities for bipartisan solutions.

"Obviously, it's a political issue right now, but our job is to be professional about it and to make sure that there is a product coming out of Washington D.C.," Panetta said.

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