How will President Barack Obama’s massive health care reform proposal affect long term care providers?
With a bill of over 1,000 pages and a budget in the trillions, the shift is bound to have a big impact.
According to a story in Kaiser Health News, despite worries to the contrary, providers would benefit over the long term under the proposed plan. Nancy Chockley, president of the National Institute for Health Care Management, said, “Everyone has been nicked a little bit, but they are all flesh wounds.”
Concerned about how much they’d have to pay for the plan, hospitals reached a deal to forgo $155 billion in Medicare over 10 years, but believe they’ll reap $170 billion over the long haul treating fewer uninsured patients.
Doctors could face almost 20 percent in Medicare payment cuts but will bring in an extra $230 billion over the next 10 years.
Nursing facilities may not benefit as much under the reform plan. The main purpose of the reform bill is to reduce the number of uninsured patients. As most nursing facility patients are on government-run Medicaid and Medicare, a reduction won’t have much of a positive impact. In fact, nursing facilities would see Medicare payments cut by up to five percent.
See this chart for pro and con highlights.
