Hospitals gear up for major offensive against ObamaCare repeal

A powerful coalition of hospitals is previewing a fierce attack against GOP leaders if lawmakers follow through on their promise to repeal ObamaCare next year.

The American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals on Tuesday fired off a damning new report warning that its industry stood to take a massive financial hit under the repeal of ObamaCare.

The 41-page report, which was conducted by the firm Dobson DaVanzo & Associates, showed the hospital industry would lose $165.8 billion through cuts to Medicaid alone.

Tom Nickels, executive vice president for the American Hospital Association, said these types of financial losses “cannot be sustained” in any part of the country.

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The study, which includes data from the federal government as well as private studies, is based on the Republicans’ bill aimed at dismantling the healthcare law 2015, which was vetoed by President Obama.

“We believe that this bill will serve as a template, or at least a starting point, for congressional action in 2017,” Federation of American Hospitals President Chip Kahn told reporters.

With the holiday recess ahead, Kahn said hospital leaders would make their warnings clear to lawmakers before the start of the 115th Congress begins.

Their press conference on Tuesday included the president of a small hospital in North Carolina, who said she said the idea of another grueling healthcare debate was “gut-wrenching” to watch. 

“When I first heard ‘repeal and replace,’ my gut just kind of knotted up,” Joann Anderson, whose hospital is called Southeastern Health in Lumberton, North Carolina, said on the call. 

Speaking shortly after Anderson, Kahn said: “Members of Congress are going to hear that from every hospital in their district.”