Cleveland Clinic would "probably not" have become more efficient and cut more than $300 million from its annual budget were it not for the Affordable Care Act, according to CEO Delos "Toby" Cosgrove, MD, who spoke on a panel at the Republican National Convention.
The panel was hosted by Cleveland Clinic and Bloomberg.
Dr. Cosgrove's support for the ACA was contrasted with the views of House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas), who said the House GOP plan to replace the ACA would restore most of the cuts to Medicare, totaling $800 billion. This would benefit private payers and operators of Medicare Advantage plans in particular.
Rep. Brady also shot down the proposal from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices — a proposal backed by his opponent, Hillary Clinton.
"Study after study shows that that will save no money," Rep. Brady said, according to Bloomberg. "There's a simple reason. If you follow the VA model, which is what's proposed for Medicare, this is how they save money: They don't allow breakthrough drugs that may be more expensive, so they limit the medicines that are available, and they limit how the veterans can get them. They limit access," he added.
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