Health groups criticize tax cuts

Nov. 21--Tax reform proposals moving through Congress could hurt the health care of millions of Americans and raise costs for families with serious medical needs, several major Tennessee health organizations warned Monday.

Here in southern Middle Tennessee, the leadership at Maury Regional Medical Center expressed a similar concern.

The removal of individual mandates in the Affordable Care Act, without replacing the financial cut to medical centers, will force a rise in bad debt and an increase in charity care, Maury Regional CEO Alan Watson said.

Predicting that healthy individuals will choose to waive insurance as rates increase, Watson said insurance rates will increase as insurance pools fill with a majority of patients with greater health risks and more needs.

"Our big concern on any of these proposed reforms is that the change cannot simultaneously rule out the number of people eligible for health insurance and not restore financial support to the hospital," Watson said. "It just doesn't work. Our plan is to express any concerns we have with our delegation. We will wait and see what the final resolutions look like."

He said Tennessee Hospital Association is working with legislators and sharing the concerns of healthcare facilities across the state, including Maury Regional.

Maury Regional does have an alternative care model in place for those who don't have insurance, but increasing the number of patients in the program would create a burden the medical center cannot afford, Watson said.

For those without insurance and in need of care, there is a network of federally qualified health centers that offer treatment on a sliding scale.

As the future of the nation's healthcare programs remain unknown, Watson advises everyone live the healthiest life that they can.

"Obviously anything they can do to maintain their own personal health can help individuals control their own health care," Watson said. "Quite smoking, get more exercise and eat better."

As discussion of the reforms continue Watson said Maury Regional will continue operating without change both internally and with its patients.

"We will wait to see the final proposed bill and the financial implications of that," Watson said. "It is just way too early to tell."

Representatives from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Family Voices of Tennessee, the National Organization for Rare Disorders and an emergency room physician from Vanderbilt University shared their perspectives with media outlets on Monday.

The participants presented the perspectives of several of the more than 20 national patient advocacy organizations and medical and health care industry groups that have issued statements opposing the tax reform bill, which, if passed, could reach President Trump's desk before the end of the year.

The group opposes the bill because, according to the Congressional Budget Office, it will cut health care coverage and raise the medical expenses for millions of ordinary families, including thousands of Tennesseans.

Lynn Williams of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network explained that the tax bill will jeopardize coverage for many people with pre-existing conditions.

"By definition, that means cancer patients and cancer survivors," Williams said.

Sarah Sampson, from Family Voices of Tennessee, an organization of parents of children with special health care needs, described the impact of the bill on families with a member who requires caregiving. These families will no longer be able to deduct caregiving expenses, a major item on their taxes. The bill also eliminates tax incentives for pharmaceutical researchers to develop drugs to treat rare disorders, and that we will return to a time when there was little or no research into therapies for such diseases.

Dr. Terry Jo Bichell, who represents the National Organization for Rare Disorders, described her experience as a nursing professional, the mother of a son with one rare disorder and the daughter of a father with another.

There are 660,000 Tennesseans with rare disorders.

Dr. Andrew Pfeffer, a Nashville emergency room physician with Vanderbilt Medical Center, warned that there is no real difference between what the Congress is now about to enact and the failed health bills that the public soundly rejected months ago. The changes will make health care and health coverage worse for all, because destabilizing the insurance market will increase everyone's costs. He pointed out that the tax bill is so bad that it has unified groups in opposition, like doctors and insurance companies that often disagree on major health issues.

The tax bill will add $1.5 trillion to the national deficit. Congressional leaders say they will cut from Medicaid, Medicare and other health programs to make up that amount. The panelists warned that this would hurt all Americans, and urged Tennesseans to contact their elected officials to express concern about the bill and ask them to vote against it.

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