There are likely going to be millions of new patients with health insurance, benefitting the entire industry. And patients with insurance will gain access to routine and preventive care which will save the system money in the long term and improve the quality of life for many. All good. But... the unified House bill is also going to extract something too. The estimated 36m newly covered Americans will require new sources of funding, including a reduction in hospital reimbursement of over $400b in Medicare and Medicaid cuts. The Senate and House are also talking about cuts to physician reimbursement totalling some $200b over the next ten years. The pharmaceutical and device industries are also hit by the proposed law. Given all of the open funding issues, expect a great deal more debate before this is finalized.
It's going to be devastating to safety net hospitals across the country that already face mounting shortfalls in Medicare/aid reimbursements. In Massachusetts, increasing the coverage has been great, but only adds to financial woes of hospitals who treat Commonwealth Care patients.
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