Hospitals Are Biggest Losers in Latest Legal Attack on Obamacare
- New ruling would put billions of dollars in payments at risk
- ‘They have to treat the patients no matter what:’ analyst
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Obamacare is under legal attack again, and in the health-care industry it’s hospitals that have the most to lose.
A federal judge ruled Thursday that subsidies for patients’ out-of-pocket costs may be illegal in President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law. Those subsidies are a key part of the law that helped millions of Americans afford health care. If the ruling is upheld by higher courts, billions of dollars in payments to hospitals would be at risk as insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical costs rise. Unlike health insurers -- which have pulled out of Obamacare in markets where they made losses -- hospitals have no such option: They are stuck with unpaid bills.