If You Provide Hearing Care, The Hits May Just Keep Coming In 2021

by David Smriga, VP Corporate Communications, AUDNET Hearing Group

The second most important date on the November calendar is November 10.  That is the day the Supreme Court will begin to hear oral arguments in California v. Texas, a case in which the Trump Administration and a group of Attorneys General are challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Regardless of the outcome of the general election taking place on November 3 (the first most important date), the decision the Supreme Court makes in this case could strike down the ACA in its entirety.

Perhaps like many hearing healthcare providers (HHP’s), I have been wondering how an ACA strike down would play out for our industry and profession. There are two questions critical to this inquiry.  First, what would happen in the interim between the day the ACA is struck down and that day some time in the future when its replacement (if any) is enacted?  Second, what would that replacement look like?  Clearly, we have yet to be presented with any meaningful answer to the second question.  But, recently, the Brookings Institute and the University of California Schaeffer Center, have fleshed out the details associated with the first question. And frankly, their observations are sobering.  Healthcare providers, including HHP’s, who receive payments from Medicare, Medicaid or insurance should prepare themselves for a pretty rocky road to future compensation – all while still dealing with a pandemic and pending OTC regulations.  Welcome to 2021?

CLICK HERE for an overview of the institute’s analysis.