Due to the recent interest to repeal and replace Obamacare, healthcare-provider groups have called on Congress to cut a bipartisan deal on healthcare reforms!nn”The best approach would be for Congress members to reach across the aisle and address some of the specific problem areas of the Affordable Care Act,” Elizabeth “Betsy” Ryan, JD, president and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association, told HealthLeaders.nn”To me, letting Obamacare fail would be a dereliction of government’s responsibility to the people. This is not just a political fight to be won—these are real people, real families, whose healthcare is at stake.”nnPartisan congressional approaches to repealing, replacing, or repairing the PPACA are likely destined for the scrapheap, Nicholas Schilligo, MS, vice president of public policy at the Chicago-based American Osteopathic Association (AOA), told HealthLeaders. “Any meaningful solution is going to require bipartisan discussion, including hearings that thoroughly examine and vet a lot of the issues that are going to be put forward.”nnThis past weekend’s collapse of the Senate’s Obamacare repeal-and-replace bill, the Better Care and Reconciliation Act (BCRA), prompted Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call on his Senate colleagues to pass repeal-only legislation. The Kentucky Republican’s repeal-only plan includes a two-year grace period to give Congress time to craft a replacement for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).n
“A repeal of the ACA without an adequate replacement would be devastating. Hospitals and other healthcare providers conceded billions of dollars in federal funding under the ACA, because they knew those reductions would be balanced by more insured patients. If we lose both—federal funding and healthcare coverage—it would be unsustainable for our healthcare system, and that would impact all of us.”
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nThis article was originally posted on HealthLeadersMedia.com