Whenever Senator John McCain says he is acting on principle, Arizonans know to follow the money. Almost immediately after McCain announced in a tweet that he was acting on “principle” in rejecting the Graham-Cassidy bill that would reform the Affordable Care Act, big money groups offered backup.
Before the ink was dry on advertising contracts, ads paid for by the Coalition to Protect American’s Healthcare were played on stations in Arizona in support of McCain’s position.
In 2013, Arizona State legislators benefited from supporting Medicaid expansion, while conservative opponents were targeted by the healthcare organizations. Hospitals fought hard and spent big money in support of expansion.
According to Politico under Obamacare, hospitals have enjoyed record profits, and not necessarily by providing benefits to the public:
Obamacare may have been a mixed blessing for those seeking coverage through the state exchanges, some of which have seen double-digit annual premium hikes, but it’s been a clear boon for the nation’s hospitals.
Multiple studies have linked the ACA’s coverage expansion to improved financial performance, with one analysis finding that hospitals’ profit margins went up by 25 percent in states that expanded Medicaid in 2014. Overall, the industry boasted an 8.3 percent profit margin that year, according to the most recent figures published by the American Hospital Association. That’s the highest performance on record — more than triple the industry’s 2.6 percent profit margin in 2008, amid the recession and before the Obama administration began pushing its health care reforms — and it’s only invited scrutiny from advocates and researchers who say that it’s a sign the system is broken.
Timothy Carney, in the Washington Examiner noted that the “healthcare providers has been consolidating, with smaller practitioners forced by regulations to sell out to bigger hospitals, meaning consumers have fewer choices and the market has less competition. Good news for the big guys. Bad news for everyone else.”
While low-income families have experienced some benefit from expansion in Arizona, middle-class families, who do not qualify for subsidies have lost care to due the fact that it is now unaffordable.
“Health insurance premiums nearly tripled in Arizona between 2013 and 2017, the fourth-biggest increase among the 39 states that participated in healthcare.gov, according to new data from the Department of Health and Human Services,” reported Cronkite News in May.
“Arizona’s 190 percent increase meant a monthly premium increase of about $400 to a consumer in the state, to $611, under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare,” continued the report. “The average monthly increase for all marketplace states was 105 percent.”
In July, McCain dramatically killed the “skinny repeal” of Obamacare.
The Board of Directors for the Coalition to Protect American’s Healthcare is comprised of some of the biggest corporate beneficiaries of Medicaid expansion:
MARNA P. BORGSTROM Coalition Chair President and CEO Yale New Haven Health System New Haven, CT |
RICK POLLACK President and CEO American Hospital Association |
BRUCE SIEGEL, MD President and CEO America’s Essential Hospitals |
ROBERT J. HENKEL President and CEO Ascension Health St. Louis, MO |
DARRELL G. KIRCH, MD President and CEO Association of American Medical Colleges |
JOHN T. PORTER President and CEO Avera Health Sioux Falls, SD |
NANCY HOWELL AGEE President and CEO Carilion Clinic Roanoke, VA |
SR. CAROL KEEHAN, DC President and CEO The Catholic Health Association of the United States |
MARK WIETECHA President and CEO Children’s Hospital Association |
MATTHEW S. GALLIVAN Vice President, Government Relations Quorum Health Brentwood, TN |
CHIP KAHN President and CEO Federation of American Hospitals |
ANDY W. CARTER President and CEO Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania Harrisburg, PA |
VICTOR L. CAMPBELL Senior Vice President HCA Nashville, TN |
GARY P. FISCHETTI Company Group Chairman, North America Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices, Inc. Raynham, MA |
KENNETH A. SAMET President and CEO MedStar Health Columbia, MD |
STEVEN ROSE President and CEO Nanticoke Health Services Seaford, DE |
PAUL R. BENGTSON Chief Executive Officer Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital Saint Johnsbury, VT |
MIKE ABRAMS President and CEO Ohio Hospital Association Columbus, OH |
SUSAN D. DEVORE President and CEO Premier, Inc. |
ROD F. HOCHMAN, MD President and CEO Providence Health & Services Seattle, WA |
TRAVIS HEIDER President and CEO Rochester Regional Healthcare Alliance Rochester, NY |
STEVEN I. GOLDSTEIN President and CEO Strong Memorial Hospital and Highland Hospital of the University of Rochester Rochester, NY |
KEITH B. PITTS Vice Chairman TENET Healthcare Dallas, TX |
CURT NONOMAQUE President and CEO Vizient, Inc. |