Michael P. Strazzella, practice group leader for federal government relations for the law firm of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney’s District of Columbia office and a healthcare expert, speculated in an interview what might happen to hospitals in Trump administration that seeks to take apart the Affordable Care Act.
Among his observations:
“Repeal is good campaign language but it’s a 2,000-plus page bill and not everything can be repealed.”
Fierce said that he said that Republicans and Mr. Trump don’t want to see millions of people suddenly losing their insurance.”The question the administration must grapple with is how to transition them so they can stay insured but also access more affordable health plans.”
But, he said, Mr. Trump can, in his first days of office, and without congressional approval, withdraw the appeals of certain pieces of the law that are caught up in lawsuits. He can take action immediately on the appeal to cost-sharing subsidies, insist that the Department of Health and Human Services direct reinsurance payments back to the Treasury Department, and refuse to pay out risk corridor payments.
But, Fierce asked, “where does this leave hospitals and healthcare systems that have agreed to cost-sharing proposals under the Medicare program if the ACA is rolled back?
He said there will be concerns about the additional costs involved in policies and programs put in place to replace the ACA.
“I believe people need to take a hard look at their business models, where they fit in to Republican proposals driven by Trump,” Mr. Strazzella says.
As for some of the ACA pilot programs, such as the Accountable Care Organizations under the Medicare Shared Savings Programs that were endorsed by the Obama administration? Mr. Strazzella expects the Trump administration to take a close look.
“President Trump will not be shy to hold back on those if he is not seeing the dollar savings and see if he can do it better in a different form.”
He also noted that Mr. Trump has talked about moving people off Medicaid and to private insurance.
To read the whole interview, please hit this link.
