NH Hospital Association Opinion on U.S. Senate's Health Care Act

Steve Ahnen, president of the NH Hospital Association. Photo: NHHA

The score issued by the Congressional Budget Office of the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), confirms our concerns that it would result in the loss of health insurance coverage for 22 million Americans, coverage that they depend on to help them and their families to get the right care, at the right time, at the right place.

As we have steadfastly maintained for the last several months, we cannot support legislation that would cause millions of Americans, including tens of thousands of Granite State residents, to lose health insurance coverage and downshift costs to NH’s Medicaid program through significant reductions in federal spending.  In addition, BCRA would continue to cut more than $1.5 billion in Medicare reimbursements to hospitals in New Hampshire through 2026, dramatically impacting their ability to serve the patients and communities who depend on them every day. 

We believe that the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) needs to be viewed through the eyes of the patient and the caregivers that take care of them, and make protecting health care coverage for our most vulnerable citizens a higher priority.  We remain opposed to the BCRA and urge the Senate to vote no on this bill, and to start over and create a new version of legislation that protects coverage for those who have it and provides coverage for those who need it most. 

Steve Ahnen is president of the NH Hospital Association. Before joining the NHHA in 2008, he spent 16 years working at the American Hospital Association in Washington, D.C.