Forbes: Trumpcare hits Children's Hospitals hard [View all]

[Tanuki]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2017/05/14/trumpcare-hits-childrens-hospitals-hard/amp/

"The nation’s children’s hospitals may see a harsh reduction in funding and reduced care for their patients should the American Health Care Act, also known as Trumpcare, replace the Affordable Care Act, new analyses show.

The ACA expanded Medicaid in 31 states that opted to do so, particularly for children who tend to qualify for such coverage in greater numbers than adults. The AHCA, which narrowly passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, would roll back the ACA’s Medicaid expansion and lead to 14 million fewer Americans with insurance by 2018; eventually, 24 million would lose coverage by 2026, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in March.
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The AHCA cuts more than $800 billion from state Medicaid budgets over more than a decade, hitting children’s hospitals particularly hard. “Children could see their healthcare cut by tens of billions of dollars,” the Children’s Hospital Association, which represents more than 220 hospitals, said. “Other changes contained in the bill would make the healthcare system worse for children, not better.”
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“Half of our pediatric patients are insured by Medicaid, many of whom are disabled or medically complex,” Lurie Children’s CEO Patrick Magoon said. “It would be very difficult for our hospital to absorb such massive cuts. We opposed these cuts in the House-passed legislation, and certainly hope the Senate bill under development will maintain Medicaid’s 50-year commitment to caring for our nation’s most vulnerable children.”

Children and the hospitals that treat them will also be hurt by potentially skimpier coverage that the AHCA allows in the individual market, particularly since the MacArthur Amendment. The AHCA allows states to gut protections for preexisting conditions and allows states the opportunity to eliminate certain essential health benefits, leaving coverage for children particularly vulnerable.".....(more)