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Ending ACA Premium Tax Credits Will Hurt Rural Hospitals

ThuneMaskWhether the Supreme Court uses King v. Burwell to overturn the Affordable Care Act’s premium tax credits for South Dakotans (which decision Senator John Thune is hoping for) or whether Senator Thune simply passes his House GOP colleagues’ umpteenth plan to repeal the ACA (while ignoring the budgetary damage that would ensue), ending the ACA premium tax credits would be bad for South Dakota’s rural hospitals:

If the plaintiffs prevail, an estimated 5.6 million people will lose their tax credits next year in the 15 HealthCare.gov states where Hospital Corporation of America has facilities, according to the Urban Institute, a centrist research center.

Nearly 4.9 million of these people would ultimately become uninsured, the institute predicts. Without coverage, most of these low- to moderate-income people would struggle to pay their medical bills and become prime candidates for hospital charity and uncompensated care.

That money-losing scenario after a plaintiff victory has sent a chill through HCA’s corporate coffers and the hospital industry as a whole.

“It’s kind of a perfect storm of all things bad,” said Jimmy Lewis, CEO of HomeTown Health LLC, a trade association of roughly 50 rural hospitals in Georgia and Florida. “Anything that increases the uninsured puts rural hospital providers at an even greater risk for distress or closure” [Tony Pugh, “Obamacare Ruling Could Devastate Hospitals,” Governing, 2015.03.17].

Senator Thune’s opposition to premium tax credits is one more example of how our senior Senator is putting Washington politics above South Dakota interests.

17 Comments

  1. bearcreekbat 2015-03-20 11:46

    How is it that a politician like John Thune who sells out his constituents ran unopposed in the last election and does not appear to have a serious challenger for 2016? What is going on in the mind of South Dakota voters anyway?

  2. mike from iowa 2015-03-20 13:03

    bcb-you up to the challenge? I’d vote for you if I could. Run,run,run.

  3. jerry 2015-03-20 16:24

    Well bcb, he lies his arse off. Simple as that. Tehran John is a traitor to America. He has only the love of money on his mind. 10.5 million in an account, what a crook. No wonder Cory has him in a mask.

  4. rollin potter 2015-03-20 19:42

    BCB,welcome to south Dakota, home of the dumb shit hillbillies of the world!!!!!!!!!

  5. Lynn 2015-03-20 19:59

    John looks good on TV but not known so much for original ideas. Since South Dakotans like to see him on TV how about he is able to be a guest star or have a permanent role on “Law & Order” rather than wasting valuable space as our US Senator?

  6. mike from iowa 2015-03-20 20:16

    Thune wears a mask so peons don’t catch affluenza from him or his korporate sponsors. Wouldn’t look good if everyone was rich,it being so contagious and all.

  7. jerry 2015-03-21 12:11

    If Tehran John has his way, the bottom will fall out of healthcare, even for rich twits like himself. His travel days to South Dakota, (do they even exist?) will come to an end as there will be a severe lack of services. Here is a very good report on how far we have come and how far there is to go. https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Affordability-report3.pdf

    Speaking of travel to South Dakota, does anyone know what Tehran John has done for our state? What has he accomplished for the folks back home?

  8. leslie 2015-03-22 03:18

    I saw him at a local bb game w/announcer-buddies. cheap propaganda. didn’t listen

    jerry-what do we do about this 10.5 mill??

    amprogress summary is disappointing, I think plaintiff’s have to lose though (from the language in question) unless SCOTUS is political; and if we don’t need soc sec, I don’t suppose we need rural hospitals either. am kidding about politics and soc/sec-hospitals, of course.

  9. jerry 2015-03-22 12:50

    We ask Tehran John, why it is so important to go to war with Iran over building nuclear power plants when Jordan is getting some from Russia, and Saudi Arabia is getting some from Korea. http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Jordan-and-Russia-to-sign-10b-nuclear-deal-this-month-394732

    That is gonna cost the twerp some headache and moolah to defend himself for his love of mullahs. We ask Tehran John about his replacement for the ACA and the details, all the details on exactly that will work. In short, we stop acting like he is some kind of God and kick his ass with some hard questions that demand answers.

  10. mike from iowa 2015-03-22 15:15

    He’ll accuse you of hating horses. His in particular.

  11. jerry 2015-03-23 10:38

    Daugaard, Tehran John, Marty Jackley and whiskers NOem need to own the death panels they promised 5 years ago with the ACA. The death panels they promised are here because of their politics by not allowing the Medicaid Expansion and by their constant voting records to hinder progress of the ACA. 5 years ago tomorrow, the ACA was signed. The employment is high and the markets are high both the stock and the cattle thanks to Obama and the ACA. If rural hospitals close, thank the masked men

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