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November 9, 2009

Local reaction mixed to health care bill

Charles Oliver

The health care reform bill passed by the House of Representatives on Saturday appears to be an improvement over previous versions of that bill, said Hamilton Health Care System president and CEO John Bowling, but he adds that health care providers still have concerns about it.

“The previous bill had all hospital reimbursement rates at the Medicare rate,” he said. “The current bill contains a provision for negotiated rates, but it ties them back to Medicare. The fact that is isn’t straight Medicare rates is an improvement, but the fact that it is still tied back to Medicare fosters concern on our part.”

Bowling says Medicare pays less than other third-party forms of payment.

“Most hospitals, including ours, lose money on every Medicare patient they take care of and every Medicaid patient they take care of,” he said. “The reimbursement from federal programs do not cover the costs of services.”

Bowling says those costs get shifted onto private payers and are, in effect, a tax on them.

“It concerns us that a larger part of the population may be put into that system,” he said.

Bowling says the bill would expand health care coverage, which is a positive. But he said several other flaws may outweigh those benefits.

“In the version that has been passed, there is a tax on medical device manufacturers, but hospitals are required to pay the tax. In other words, we would collect the tax and pay it back to the federal government,” he said. “As we do that, that will continue to shift costs over to commercial payers.”

Margaret Ball, chairman of the Democratic Party 9th Congressional District committee, said she knows there may be some changes to the health care legislation in the Senate, but she adds she is glad a bill has finally passed.

“It’s a wonderful step towards people having insurance,” she said. “I can speak as someone who has Medicare. It just makes me feel better that other people will have insurance.”

But state Sen. Don Thomas, R-Dalton, chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, says those with Medicare should be concerned about the House bill because it will pay for the program, in part, with cuts in Medicare. Thomas, a Dalton physician, says that will hurt those on Medicare.

Ball disagrees.

“That’s just scare tactics,” she said.

The AARP, the nation’s largest seniors’ group, supports the bill, and Democrats have said they can make cuts to Medicare without harming seniors.

“I’d like to see the bill passed as it is, but I’m confident that the Senate can take care of any small problems that might be in the bill,” Ball said.

Terry Christie, a former Dalton City Council member and former political science professor at Dalton State College, says he thinks a health care reform bill will pass the Senate, though he isn’t sure exactly what it will contain.

“I know the odds don’t look good because if they lose only a handful it won’t pass, but I feel confident that it will pass somehow,” he said.

Christie said having President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, both former senators, working for the bill will be a major advantage in getting it through the Senate.



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