Senate urged to go back to drawing board on health care bill

As the Senate deliberates legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack today warned that “history will remember how the Senate votes and whether it votes to protect coverage or leave the most vulnerable behind.” Pollack was joined by Sr. Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, and Atul Grover, M.D., executive vice president of the Association of American Medical Colleges, to discuss the bill in a telephone press briefing. The health care leaders expressed their strong opposition to the Better Care Reconciliation Act a day after the Congressional Budget Office estimated that it would result in 22 million more people uninsured in 2026 and cut $772 billion in federal spending from the Medicaid program from 2017-2026. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) today announced that the Senate will not vote on legislation until after the July 4 recess. The bill “asks the low-income and most vulnerable in our country to bear the brunt of cuts to our health care system so that we can give a tax break to the richest and most fortunate in our country,” Keehan said. Grover said America’s teaching hospitals will use “whatever resources we have to make sure” uninsured or underinsured patients get the care they need. “But the challenge becomes what about Level I trauma centers, mental health services and inpatient psychiatric beds?” he asked. “This is a giant step backwards not just for [those] who will feel it immediately, but for everybody who we care about.” AHA’s Pollack said the hospital and health system message is for “the Senate to go back to the drawing board and write a bill that protects coverage for Americans who already have it, particularly our most vulnerable patients.”