Healthcare spending could drop by more than $11.4 billion next year if enhanced premium tax credits enacted in the American Rescue Plan expire, new research finds.
Healthcare Dive reports that hospital spending would decline by $3.8 billion, while spending on physician practice services would drop by $1.3 billion, according to a report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute published Wednesday. Prescription drug spending would decline by $3.4 billion and spending on other services outside of hospital and doctors’ offices would fall by $2.8 billion.
Plummeting health services spending would happen due to lost credits potentially leaving more than 3 million people currently on Affordable Care Act plans without insurance, and therefore less likely to spend on care, researchers said. Read more.
