These 64 N.J. Hospitals Could Be Hurt Worst By Obamacare Repeal, $1.1B Loss

New Jersey's hospitals have already suffered because of $1.5 billion in funding cuts over the past seven years. The Affordable Care Act promised to give them some money back.

But if the ACA — otherwise known as Obamacare — is repealed without a replacement, they won't get their money back, according to the New Jersey Hospital Association. In fact, they could be looking at another $1.1 billion in losses because the uninsured rate will skyrocket.

The New Jersey Hospital Association put together a list of individual hospitals that have experienced funding cuts as high as $74 million from 2010 to 2017 — and those hospitals, as a result, could suffer the most if they're treating people without health insurance.

Patch ranked those hospitals from top to bottom based on those funding cuts that came about because of changes to Medicare (see list below).

The NJHA is calling on lawmakers to pass a simultaneous replacement plan if the ACA is repealed. Barring that, these deep funding cuts should be returned to providers to allow them to care for the people who face the loss of newfound coverage, the NJHA said in a release.

“The impact of repeal without replacement – or restoration of these funding cuts – would be devastating to hospitals and other healthcare providers,” said Betsy Ryan, president and CEO of NJHA. “So many of the strides we’ve made in expanding access to healthcare – and in reforming our healthcare system for the future – are now in danger of being walked back.”

At stake in New Jersey are issues of access to quality care and financial stability for facilities and the state government, including:

• A total of 796,291 New Jersey residents have been covered under Medicaid and the Health Insurance Marketplace since the ACA’s coverage provisions took effect in 2014.
• A stark reduction of insured New Jerseyans would create a dramatic increase in the demand for charity care services. That would be a double blow to hospitals that have seen state charity care funding cut by $350 million in the last two state budgets.
• More residents of New Jersey would access care through the emergency department, which is not effective for patients, increases wait times for all and increases healthcare costs.
• The state could lose federal matching dollars under Medicaid expansion, to the tune of $4.4 billion annually.

Here is the list of hospitals, ranked top to bottom, and their funding cuts between 2010 and 2017:

1. HackensackUMC $74,533,982
2. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital $66,208,813
3. St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center $63,814,585
4. Newark Beth Israel Medical Center $49,443,645
5. Cooper University Health Care $47,517,700
6. The Valley Hospital $43,953,788
7. AtlantiCare Regional Medical $43,808,807
8. Morristown Medical Center $43,487,894
9. Jersey Shore University Medical Center $43,473,268
10. Saint Barnabas Medical Center $42,064,156
11. Kennedy University Hospital - Cherry Hill $39,539,782
12. Community Medical Center $37,106,300
13. University Hospital $31,167,992
14. Virtua $29,170,689
15. JFK Medical Center $28,820,314
16. Englewood Hospital and Medical Center $28,793,078
17. Saint Michael's Medical Center $26,883,351
18. Overlook Medical Center $26,524,970
19. Saint Peter's University Hospital $27,650,166
20. Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center $26,011,964
21. Inspira Medical Center Vineland $25,105,558
22. Clara Maass Medical Center $23,946,531
23. Raritan Bay Medical Center $23,849,755
24. Holy Name Medical Center $23,304,135
25. Jersey City Medical Center $22,766,807
26. Trinitas Regional Medical Center $22,589,116
27. Monmouth Medical Center $21,364,228
28. Ocean Medical Center $20,959,469
29. Saint Clare's Denville Hospital $20,875,148
30. Virtua Memorial $19,704,330
31. St. Mary's General Hospital $19,399,129
32. RWJ University Hospital Somerset $19,134,737
33. HackensackUMC Palisades $17,919,941
34. CarePoint Health Christ Hospital $17,577,400
35. CentraState Medical Center $16,458,312
36. Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus $16,208,883
37. HackensackUMC Mountainside $16,118,724
38. RWJ University Hospital Hamilton $15,080,911
39. Capital Health Regional Medical Center $14,643,080
40. Inspira Medical Center Woodbury $14,257,223
41. Chilton Medical Center $14,087,515
42. Riverview Medical Center $13,957,158
43. University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro $13,551,961
44. East Orange General Hospital $13,175,207
45. Capital Health Medical Center-Hopewell $13,152,558
46. Cape Regional Medical Center $12,871,930
47. Shore Medical Center $12,169,794
48. Deborah Heart and Lung Center $11,785,836
49. CarePoint Health Bayonne Medical Center $10,410,912
50. Southern Ocean Medical Center $10,390,441
51. RWJ University Hospital Rahway $10,271,453
52. CarePoint Health Hoboken University Medical Center $9,847,293
53. St. Francis Medical Center $9,702,598
54. St. Luke's Warren Campus $8,949,723
55. Newton Medical Center $8,715,878
56. Hunterdon Medical Center $8,465,188
57. Bayshore Community Hospital $8,073,704
58. Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County $7,844,754
59. Bergen Regional Medical Center $6,937,277
60. The Memorial Hospital of Salem County $6,560,959
61. Hackettstown Medical Center $6,001,789
62. Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center $4,495,202
63. Inspira Medical Center Elmer $3,638,689
64. HackensackUMC at Pascack Valley $333,382

Patch file photo