Heritage’s billboard in New York City’s Times Square. (Credit: Nick Montalvo)
Last night the Newark Star-Ledger reported that Obamacare is causing one large New Jersey hospital to lay off workers:
Barnabas Health, the second-largest private employer in the state, said today it was forced to lay off employees because of pressures brought about by healthcare reform….“Healthcare reform, in combination with Medicare cuts, more patients seeking outpatient care and decreasing patient volumes,” a spokeswoman for Barnabas said in a statement. “As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce.”
This move was both predictable and predicted. Even though hospital industry lobbyists supported Obamacare three years ago, the law contains Medicare provisions that will decimate the industry over the long term. As Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint wrote earlier this week:
ObamaCare’s reductions in Medicare spending could undermine the health system for millions of seniors. According to the non-partisan Medicare actuary, the law’s arbitrary spending reductions could cause 15% of hospitals to become unprofitable by 2019, and as many as 40% of hospitals to become unprofitable in the long term. These hospitals could face the choice between shutting out seniors or shutting their doors for good.
Nancy Pelosi famously said we had to pass the bill to find out what’s in it. Hospitals, whose Washington lobbyists endorsed the law, are now finding out that Obamacare will harm them significantly—and hospital workers are finding out Obamacare could cost them their jobs.
Expanding health insurance coverage even as hospitals lay off staff—potentially reducing, not increasing, access to care—isn’t reform. For this and many other reasons, Congress needs to stop Obamacare now and focus on creating health care solutions that work.