The American Health Care Act, the ACA replacement bill unveiled by House Republicans last week, "is going to create a real problem" because "a lot of people are not going to be insured," Steven Corwin, MD, president and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian, said Tuesday on CBS News' "Issues That Matter" series.
Dr. Corwin pointed specifically to the provisions of the bill that would roll back Medicaid expansion and eliminate the individual mandate. On Monday, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office projected the AHCA would reduce the federal deficit by about $337 billion over the next decade, but that it would insure 24 million fewer Americans by 2026 than would be insured by that year if the ACA remained intact.
"I think that we have to as a country decide, is healthcare a right or is it a privilege? If it's a right, then we've got to insure everybody. And if we want to ultimately control the cost of healthcare, you've got to insure people," said Dr. Corwin, according to CBS.
At NewYork-Presbyterian, which serves more than 4 million patients annually, 30 percent of patients are covered by Medicaid. About one-third of New York City residents are on Medicaid, according to the report.
"You've got to take care of poor people," Dr. Corwin said. He added that without the individual mandate, "you cannot have a functioning insurance market," because "you need young healthy people who are paying premiums to offset the costs of other people who are sick."
Dr. Corwin said the cost of healthcare in the U.S. is too high, "but having said that, you've got to insure people," he added, according to the report. "And I think that by not insuring people, the cost of healthcare is going to continue to go up."