Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Medicaid suffers the brunt of the legislation’s cuts in the newest release.

If the wealth of your business comes from servicing Medicaid beneficiaries, then your future profits may hinge on legislation that’s been postponed for a vote in the Senate.

The House of Representatives narrowly passed its Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill, the American Health Care Act, in early May. Now the Senate has released details of its bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BRCA). The bill “turned out to be very similar” to AHCA, notes the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in analysis of the bill. “Both plans shift Medicaid to a per capita cap model and end the Community First Choice Program.”

Although the bill doesn’t touch Medicare, it includes major cuts to Medicaid funding that would negatively impact the most vulnerable members of society. Women’s health organizations, home health agencies, and providers of children’s healthcare and services will be greatly impacted by the suggested changes.

Reasoning: But, with the vote looking as if it will fall along party lines and with news outlets reporting as many as five or more Republican U.S. senators saying they’ll vote against the bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pushed the vote on BRCA to after the July 4 congressional recess.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the bill will save the government $321 billion. “That amount is $202 billion more than the estimated net savings for the version of H.R. 1628 that was passed by the House of Representatives,” CBO notes on its website. BRCA would also result in 22 million people not being insured, a slightly lower figure than the AHCA’s 24 million.

But, even under this reduced impact, the American Medical Association (AMA) remains – like many other medical organizations – opposed to the BRCA. “Medicine has long operated under the precept of Primum non nocere, or ‘first, do no harm,’” said James L. Madara, M.D., AMA CEO and Executive Vice President in a June 26, 2017 letter to the U.S. Senate. “The draft legislation violates that standard on many levels.”

Resources: See the CBO report at: www.cbo.gov/system/files/115th-congress-2017-2018/costestimate/52849-hr1628senate.pdf.

To read the American Medical Association’s letter to the U.S. Senate, visit www.ama-assn.org/ama-announces-opposition-senate-health-system-reform.