The American Hospital Association lauded
passage of the House health reform bill as a “historic step,” but cautioned that the legislation still needs improvement.
While pleased that the bill bases its public plan on negotiated rates instead of Medicare, “We remain concerned that the program would still, in part, be based on historically low Medicare rates. We also are concerned about expanding eligibility for Medicaid to 150% of the federal poverty level at a time when states are struggling with severe budget shortfalls,” AHA President Richard Umbdenstock said in a written statement.
Umbdenstock called on lawmakers to restore a provision that would expand the outpatient 340B drug discount program to inpatient services for all eligible hospitals and revise the $20 billion medical-device manufacturer tax so it cannot be passed on to hospitals.
As the baton is passed to the Senate to take up its healthcare legislation, lawmakers should also “narrow the hospital readmissions policy to address only truly avoidable readmissions and improve accountable-care organizations to give hospitals the opportunity to play a leadership role,” Umbdenstock said.
Small-business groups in the meantime have issued dueling viewpoints on the legislation. “With unemployment at a 26-year high, the punitive employer mandates and atrocious new taxes will force small business owners to eliminate jobs and freeze expansion plans at a time when our nation's economy needs small business to thrive,” Susan Eckerly, a senior vice president at the National Federation of Independent Business, said in a written statement.
The Small Business Majority countered that the bill's provisions on tax credits, a robust national insurance exchange “and strong market reform—specifically the elimination of pre-existing condition rules—will go a long way toward getting small businesses the relief they desperately need.”
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