The Americal Hospital Association (AHA) published a letter to Congress by Rick Pollack. In this letter, Pollack writes on behalf of member hospitals, health systems, and individual members in offering AHA's comments and suggestions on provisions contained in both the House and Senate health care bills.
In discussing the coverage of the different bills, Pollack writes:
"We urge conferees to maintain the level of coverage offered in the House-passed bill. In addition, we strongly support beginning coverage in 2013, as envisioned in the House bill. As hospitals, we have long sought universal coverage for health care services and applaud your attempts to reform the system in a way that provides coverage to as many people as possible. We particularly applaud the House proposal that expands coverage to 36 million people (96 percent of all those legally residing in the U.S. or 94 percent of all those residing in the country). Such coverage is achieved through strong individual and employer mandates. At the same time, the Senate-passed bill does not cover as many uninsured individuals: 94 percent of all uninsured (excluding unauthorized immigrants) or 92 percent of all U.S. residents. Under the Senate proposal, at the end of the 10-year period, in 2019, there will still be 23 million uninsured according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The House proposal would cover 5 million additional uninsured people, leaving 18 million uninsured in 2019."
See also Tax Notes article, 2010 TNT 6-55 (January 7, 2010).
Posted by Jenny Robertson, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal
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