AHA Says Obama Might Do Harm to the Health Care Industry

President Obama has been working tirelessly at a health care plan that opponents believe is due for failure and has been called “socialized medicine”, much like the scheme that is already deteriorating in Europe. As part of his reformation plan, the President has projected to methodically cut $200 billion of federal financial support to hospitals. The chief of the American Hospital Association, Rich Umbdenstock, said that these projected cuts would harm the health care industry exponentially, well beyond the point that it is already hurting. He said the group is “intensely disappointed and worried” that the Obama administration needs to cut funding to hospitals at a time when more patients are relying on health care from their hospital.

In the past, President Obama presented a lecture on health care modification at the once a year meeting of the American Medical Association. Obama has recommended cutting federal funding to hospitals by about $200 billion over the next decade, justifying the change by saying that it will create greater efficiencies and broader insurance coverage. Hospitals say this is extremely unfair and will harm the sick and elderly. In a statement released after Obama’s speech, Umbdenstock reminded the public that hospitals already have to worry about $41 billion in projected cuts to the Medicare imbursement system.

Medicare, the health program for elder citizens and retirees, covers a huge number of patients at numerous hospitals, just owing to the fact that elder folks require more health treatment for more incapacitating diseases and conditions. Umbdenstock said that federal health programs like Medicare already pay hospitals at least $32 billion a year less than the price of provided health care. This is due to the fact that when Medicare is billed, the federal health program decides how much they believe the care received is valued at paying for and a imbursement is issued for that amount rather than the much owed.

He claimed that limiting Medicare and Medicaid, the national programs that are set up to repay hospitals that treat a lot of broke and uninsured patients “could harshly jeopardize hospitals’ ability to care for their patients and communities. “These programs also help to alleviate the financial shortfalls hospitals experience from government program underpayments and treating undocumented immigrants.” He also noted that Medicare and Medicaid provide quality health care for uninsured children and adults, and properly provide what he called “essential community services” including trauma and burn units, disaster readiness, neonatal care and emergency psychiatric treatment.

Umbdenstock asked Congress not to reduce the payments from such programs “before coverage expansions are universal and fully implemented as part of reform, and Medicare and Medicaid shortfalls are addressed.” He also criticized a possible proposal for a productivity adjustment for hospitals, saying it does not make sense.”Our focus needs to be on ensuring that patients receive the right care at the right time in the right setting,” he said, also reminding the public and the state that hospitals are in agreement that national health care expenses must be cut that that they stay dedicated to that effort.

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