The city's cash-strapped public hospital system is facing dire new financial problems because of sweeping changes planned for Obamacare, based on a report released released Tuesday.
The Independent Budget Office said at a time when a lot more than $1 billion in anticipated state and federal funds have not been secured by NYC Health + Hospitals, the agency's fiscal future remains “highly dependent on the end result from the health care debate in Washington.”
“The current House Republican plan, released on March 6, would place huge burden on H+H in the future years,” the IBO said.
“The plan would gradually reduce the federal government's support by introducing per capita caps to Medicaid and lower the federal matching rate for – Medicaid expansion starting in 2021.
The IBO also found that the city's contribution towards the hospital system is likely to increase by 4 percent striking $1.9 billion by 2021 – even as inpatient and outpatient visits drop.
The report cites agency figures for July through November 2021 showing inpatient visits dropping by 3.4 percent and outpatient visits 7.2 percent. H+H blamed the decline in outpatient visits on “undesirable locations of some of its facilities and greater competition for patients in the communities served.”
