Hackensack Hospital Could Lose $132M Under Republican Health Care Law

Bergen County hospitals could lose hundreds of millions of dollars under the proposed Obamacare replacement — a move that could possibly cost thousands of people their jobs and taxpayers millions of dollars.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), a Democrat, spoke about the Republican-backed American Health Care Act Tuesday afternoon, saying it has some "major problems," most notably its Medicaid provisions that have been changed since the bill was first introduced. Republican lawmakers unveiled the proposed changes Tuesday, CNN.com reported.

The legislation would permit states to choose to receive federal Medicaid money as a grant for adults and children and require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work, perform community service or participate in job training, according to the report. The current legislation institutes a per capita cap system and gives a set amount of money per enrollee. Funding for disabled and elderly enrollees would be based on the number of people enrolled.

Hackensack University Medical Center alone stands to lose $132 million in Medicaid funds if the Obamacare replacement is approved. Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, and soon-to-be Paramus, and Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, also stand to lose money, Gottheimer said.

"To keep Medicaid eligibility levels, according to a report released this morning by New Jersey Policy Perspective, our state would need to come up with $8.8 billion in new revenue over the next decade," Gottheimer said. "To fill the hole, that amounts to a tax hike of $4,000 for the average New Jersey family. That’s unacceptable considering how much we already pay in taxes."

Robert C. Garrett, the co-CEO of Hackensack Meridian Health, agreed with Gottheimer.

"The tax subsidies in this bill are far from sufficient to provide quality, affordable alternatives for the patients we serve," Garrett said. "For these reasons, the current version of AHCA seriously jeopardizes Hackensack Meridian's ability to care for families in New Jersey."

The loss of that much money could also significantly impact the 16,000 people those hospitals employ, the first-term congressman said.

The bill would also allow senior citizens to be charged as much as five times more in insurance premiums than they currently pay and hit millennials with a 30 percent surcharge if they have a lapse in their coverage.

"Health care is already too expensive and our taxes are already too high," Gottheimer said. "But the bill the House is considering will only exasperate those problems. We can’t afford it."

But the news may not be all bad.

According to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average Bergen County household would have received slightly more than $2,500 in 2020 if Obamacare was still in place, compared to $3,000 under the proposed AHCA, a 20 percent increase.

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Photo: Cardiologist Dr. Sarah Timmapuri, left, looks on while patient Gary Wilhelm, 51, looks at data on a new Fitbit Surge that is synchronized with hospital monitoring equipment, during an examination Hackensack University Medical Center. — Photo by Mel Evans/Associated Press