The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association is coming out against the latest health care bill making the rounds in Capitol Hill.The AzHHA says the Graham-Cassidy bill is essentially a reworking of the previous Obamacare repeal bills, but not necessarily an improvement on those bills.In a statement, AzHHA president/CEO Greg Vigdor says "A central goal of the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association is to ensure more Arizona families have access to quality care they can afford. The Graham-Cassidy legislation being considered by Congress falls short on both counts. "This proposal erodes critical protections for patients and consumers, and would lead to costlier premiums for many individuals -- especially those with pre-existing conditions. Millions would lose coverage altogether. "Vigdor tells KFYI News he's troubled that the measure would allow health insurers to raise premiums significantly for people with pre-existing conditions. While insurance companies would be prohibited from canceling or denying coverage, he says there's nothing to prevent the premiums from becoming unaffordable for many people.He's also concerned that Arizona could lose as much as $11 billion in federal reimbursements for its Medicaid program, known as AHCCCS, as a result of the bill. On top of everything else, Vigdor says, he dislikes the way the bill is being rammed through Congress. "Part of the issue remains the frenzied way this is happening. Every once in a while, we seem to end up in a situation where we only have a few days to figure out if some massive piece of legislation should go forward, And our view is, in this case, it should not."But above all, he says, because of the urgency behind the bill and a deadline to get something passed, there's a lot we still don't know about Graham-Cassidy. Without time to examine all the details, he says, passing it now would be unwise.
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