Hospital Group 'Deeply Disappointed' With Obama Health-Cost Plan
2009年6月16日 - 5:31AM
Dow Jones News
The American Hospital Association in a statement Monday
suggested that a White House health-care cost-cutting proposal
could "severely jeopardize hospitals' ability to care for their
patients and communities."
The group, which represents nearly 5,000 for-profit and
non-profit hospitals, responded to a proposal by President Barack
Obama issued last Saturday that would result in $106 billion in
reduced payments by the federal government to hospitals for the
care of low-income patients.
The White House proposal states that "as health reform phases
in, the number of uninsured will go down, and we would be able to
reduce payments to hospitals for treating those previously
uncovered."
Coupled with another proposal to base Medicare payment more on
"productivity, as well as other proposed cost savings from the
president's fiscal 2010 budget plan, the AHA estimates that
hospitals would see $220 billion in total cuts from their projected
payments over 10 years.
"We are deeply disappointed and concerned to see the
Administration propose cuts of more than $220 billion to hospitals,
especially during these tough economic times when more patients are
turning to their local hospital for care," AHA President and Chief
Executive Rich Umbdenstock said in a statement.
The Obama administration has highlighted roughly $950 billion in
possible cost savings in the U.S. health-care sector, which it says
will help pay for plans to extend health insurance to those
currently lacking coverage.
The centerpiece of the hospital cost-savings proposal is a
reduction in payments by Medicare and Medicaid to hospitals which
accept a "disproportionate" share of low-income patients. The White
House seeks to reduce the payments by 75% from 2013 to 2019.
Umbdenstock, in his statement, urged Congress not to cut the
disproportionate share payments until "coverage expansions are
universal and fully implemented as part of reform and Medicare and
Medicaid shortfalls are addressed."
The main publicly traded hospital companies include Tenet
Healthcare Corp. (THC), Health Management Associates Inc. (HMA),
LifePoint Hospitals Inc. (LPNT), Universal Health Services Inc.
(UHS) and Community Health Systems Inc. (CYH).
-By Patrick Yoest, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-3554;
patrick.yoest@dowjones.com