Juneau’s public hospital could still stand to lose tens of millions of dollars under the bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives to replace the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. That’s according to numbers from the American Hospital Association.
“It actually cuts the reimbursement to Bartlett Regional Hospital by $69 million over the next 10 years if it stays in the format that it’s currently in,” Bartlett Regional Hospital CEO Chuck Bill said Monday.
A breakdown of the House GOP’s American Health Care Act would cut Bartlett’s Medicaid reimbursements by about $52 million over 10 years. Adding to that would be nearly $17 million in higher costs in treating the number of patients who would be uninsured in Juneau.
Alaska’s House Rep. Don Young voted in favor of the bill that passed on a razor thin margin. Now it’s the U.S. Senate’s turn to tackle the GOP initiative to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s signature health care act.
Neither Sen. Lisa Murkowski nor Dan Sullivan has publicly staked out a position, though Murkowski has criticized House Republicans for stripping away protections for patients with many pre-existing conditions.
Alaska’s health care sector is making its case in Washington.
“We’re working with the Alaska Hospital and Nursing Home Association to reach out to Sens. Murkowski and Sullivan to let them know that the impact is and that we certainly believe that it can’t be passed in the format that it’s been presented to the Senate,” Bill said.
It’s unclear when the Senate will produce its version of the law though the GOP-led working group’s goal is before the Fourth of July recess.
