- BCRA Spells Trouble for Providers Modern Healthcare by Alex Kacik—If the Senate bill becomes law, providers could be faced with ballooning uncompensated care that forces service cutbacks, potential staffing reductions or hospital closures, health experts said. As patients lose access, more will turn to high-cost emergency rooms for care, increasing uncompensated care, and squeezing providers' margins. In other words, providers would be forced to regress.
- Senate Obamacare Repeal Could Cut 78,000 Florida Jobs, $8 Billion From State Economy Miami New Times by Jerry Iannelli—In addition to being moral abominations, experts say the measures are also just really bad for the economy. Last month, analysts at the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund warned the House plan—called the American Health Care Act (AHCA)—would cut more than 83,000 jobs and $8.6 billion from the Florida economy. Now, the Fund, along with George Washington University's Miliken Institute of Public Health, published a similar analysis of the Senate's new plan. Guess what? It would take a nearly identical, devastating chunk out of the Sunshine State's job market. According to the Commonwealth Fund's new data, the Senate deal would cut 78,000 jobs from Florida by 2026, including 52,000 jobs from the health care sector due to Medicaid cuts. Likewise, Florida's Gross State Output would shrink by $7.9 billion.
- Kentucky Would Lose 32,000 Jobs Under Senate bill to Replace Obamacare, Study Says Lexington Herald Leader by Bill Estep—Kentucky would lose 32,100 jobs in health care and other fields by 2026 under the U.S. Senate bill to replace Obamacare, a study released Thursday estimated. A separate study estimated the average premium under the law would be 49 percent higher in Kentucky for a benchmark insurance plan for marketplace customers than under Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act. The studies dovetail with others that have estimated significant impacts in Kentucky under the Senate bill, including a big increase in the number of people without insurance. For example, the Urban Institute projected that the number of uninsured people in Kentucky would increase from 6.3 percent of the population to 21 percent under the Senate bill.