Republican congressional leaders are considering a Medicare pay cut for hospitals as GOP lawmakers try to come up with a counterproposal to Democrats' demands to renew Obamacare subsidies, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Wednesday.
The policy was included in a list of health care options presented to Republican House members in a meeting on Wednesday, according to a document viewed by Bloomberg.
The proposal would ensure Medicare pays health care providers the same amount for the same health services, regardless of whether a patient receives them in a physician's office or a hospital. The policy could also lower costs for patients. It has received bipartisan backing from think tanks and advocacy groups, and could save the Medicare program substantial amounts of money.
Large hospital chains including HCA Healthcare Inc. and Tenet Healthcare Corp. fell to session lows after the reported proposal on Wednesday. HCA dipped 3.1% and Tenet slid 3.4% at 12:20 p.m. in New York.
Scalise, who is responsible for assembling health care options that can win consensus among Republicans, acknowledged that the provision was discussed at the GOP meeting Wednesday.
"There was a good list of items that have come out of committee and been vetted by the committees that we had a healthy discussion about," said Scalise, who said he expects House Republicans to vote on a plan next week.
Health insurance premiums for more than 20 million Americans are set to spike on Jan. 1, on average more than doubling as some of the Obamacare subsidies expire.
Hospitals have long opposed a site-neutral Medicare payment policy, arguing their overhead costs are higher than doctors' offices because they are required by law to accept all patients and they operate at all hours.
HCA Healthcare and Tenet Healthcare are among the hospital chains that could be impacted. Republicans already hit hospital finances in their massive tax and spending package this summer that included cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income and disabled people.
Which policies will receive a vote in the House is still up in the air, as Republicans search for a way to counter Democrats' insistence that expiring pandemic-era Affordable Care Act subsidies be extended. GOP lawmakers leaving the meeting Wednesday acknowledged finding consensus within their party is proving difficult.
"It's like nailing Jell-O to the wall," said Representative Ralph Norman, a hard-line conservative from South Carolina.
An extension to ACA subsidies isn't one of the GOP options under discussion, although a group of moderates in the party is pushing for a two-year extension.
A health plan Senate Republicans plan to bring to a vote on Thursday doesn't change Medicare hospital payments.
A spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the document listing GOP health care options viewed by Bloomberg.
