Cuomo: NY Would Feel Immediate Impact Of ‘Obamacare’ Repeal
Channel 12 January 4, 2017
WOODBURY – If the Trump administration is successful at repealing the Affordable Care Act, hundreds of thousands of Long Island residents could feel an immediate impact.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that repealing the law would mean a $3.7 billion impact on the state budget and leave more than 2,000,000 people without health care coverage in New York.
On Long Island, it would impact 133,324 people in Nassau and 152,631 in Suffolk.
“The cost of a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, to state and local budgets and to the New Yorkers who depend on its health care coverage, is simply too high to justify,” Cuomo says.
Insurance broker Ken Gewanter says he hopes that the extended coverage for children up to age 26 remains part of Trump’s plan. He says it’s crucial that there’s enough insurance carriers to create competition to keep the premiums down.
“I don’t see any other way around it,” he told News 12 Long Island. “Because when you have no competition, you charge what you want.”
A repeal would also affect hospitals across the state.
In a phone interview, Kevin Dahill – the head of the Nassau Suffolk Hospital Council – says hospitals like the Nassau University Medical Center care for many people who are either uninsured or on Medicaid.
“Some of these hospitals are in communities where they cannot afford not to have a hospital,” says Dahill. “The state is going to be forced to provide financial assistance. This is a huge issue for the state’s economy.”
In his announcement Wednesday, Cuomo not only pointed to the huge impact on the state budget, but he says there would also be a loss of nearly $600 million of federal funding that goes directly to counties. That money is used to help lower property taxes.