The Uncertainty Bomb

By PAUL KECKLEY I like certainty and routine. I like my daily Tall Dark Roast with no room for cream at 5 am at Starbucks. I like the same restaurants, the same suits and ties and the same TV shows. Holidays throw me off and I get bored quickly when I have down time. For six years, the healthcare industry in the U.S. has been adjusting to its new normal based on the regulatory framework of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It became routine to discuss the volume to value, accountable care organizations, bundled payments, Medicaid expansion and Healthcare.gov. We were certain they’d be around for years to come. Then came the election. When 61 million voters elected Donald Trump to the White House and kept GOP majorities in both houses of Congress, it signaled our routines in healthcare would be disrupted. The campaign promised to repeal and replace the ACA: its repeal appears certain but it’s replacement injects uncertainty into our routines around a number of meaty issues: Senate Composition: The mechanisms for replacing key elements of the law will require a super majority of 60 in the Senate: will the 52 GOP senators broker support from 8 Dems for weighty items like how Medicaid block grants could work, how consumers could buy insurance across state lines, how tax credits would work as individuals replace employers as the key insurance market, the potential for vouchering Medicare and much more. How the Senate advances the ACA’s replacement will be a protracted process...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs