Tennessee hospitals warn that Tennesseans could lose coverage under new GOP health plan

March 10--Tennessee hospitals warned today that the Republican health care reform plan adopted Thursday by a pair of key House committees could jeopardize health care benefits for 230,000 Tennesseans enrolled under Obamacare health exchange plans.

In a statement released today, Tennessee Hospital Association President Greg Becker said the current GOP proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, "jeopardizes the continuation of access insurance for many Tennesseans, which could further drive up the costs of uncompensated care."

Becker said Tennessee hospitals provide nearly $2 billion in uncompensated services to uninsured persons every year. Without additional help for hospitals and with fewer people likely to buy insurance under the GOP American Health Care Act (AHCA), Becker said the health care plan moving through Congress "presents a dark forecast for the future of hospitals in Tennessee, especially our rural and safety net facilities."

"The challenges associated with the Affordable Care Act are no secret and hospitals welcome the development of solutions to our nation's healthcare needs," Becker said. "While introducing some new solutions, the American Health Care Act presents more potential challenges to hospitals."

The Tennessee Hospital Association represents 137 acute care hospitals, long-term care, psychiatric and rehabilitation members.

Becker said THA believes "a significant number of the roughly 230,000 Tennesseans currently covered could lose their coverage because of an inability to pay for insurance due to significantly reduced federal subsidies."

Republican supporters of repealing Obamacare, including U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., contend that the Affordable Care Act is crumbling of its own weight with fewer choices and premium increases for many individual plans up to 63 percent this year, even with higher deductibles for many individuals.

"In my state of Tennessee, premiums are rising by an average of 63 percent," Fleischmann said in a speed on the House floor Thursday. "Why pay so much for health insurance if you still can't afford to see a doctor?"

But Becker questioned whether the new proposal would address the instability in the insurance market, which led Humana to pull out of Tennessee and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee to limit where it provides individual plans under the health care exchanges.

"The bill also fails to sufficiently address the instability of the insurance marketplace for consumers, which THA has identified as a top priority," Becker said.

The new health care reform plan prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions and requires plans to keep children and dependents on their parents' plans until age 26. But the GOP plan removes the penalty for not buying insurance, although persons whose health insurance lapses for more than 63 days must pay a 30 percent premium to regain insurance coverage.

Becker said the GOP plan to give states more control over Medicaid spending is "a potentially positive move," but he said it also presents future risks as costs increase for medical care but federal funding for Medicaid payments to the states is capped.

"We are also concerned about the unknowns of how and at what level the per capita approach will be funded," he said. "We must ensure Medicaid enrollees continue to receive comprehensive and adequate benefits with fair reimbursement to providers for healthcare services. The current proposal stands to make achieving these goals a major obstacle."

The House Ways and Means committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the legislation Thursday on a party-line vote after debating the measure more than 27 hours. The measure next heads to the House Budget Committee and ultimately the final health care reform plan will have to be reconciled with whatever the GOP-controlled Senate adopts to replace Obamacare.

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This story was edited March 10 at 3:50 p.m.

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