TRUCKEE/TAHOE

The local hospital district is estimated to see a near $7 million drop in revenue due to the national One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed on July 3.

The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency, estimates a $1.02 trillion cut over the next decade in federal spending on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program as a result of OBBBA.

While it could be 2 years before any changes to hospitals might be felt, an analysis performed by the nonprofit and advocacy group Third Way projected out Medicaid losses for hospitals across the country. Tahoe Forest Health System, it claims, will lose $6,714,999 annually. The system’s FY 2025 budget anticipates $315 million in net patient revenue.

The hospital district did not respond to Moonshine’s request for comment.

Further, the CBO estimates a reduction in Medicare spending by $5.1 billion over 10 years, increasing the number of uninsured people by 100,000 come 2034 — if a law requiring cuts to federal programs in reaction to an increased federal deficit isn’t mitigated. The California Hospital Association estimates between a 14% and 30% reduction in Medi-Cal revenue over 10 years.

TFHS CEO Anna Roth shared at a recent Good Morning Truckee meeting that the district is monitoring financials on a state and national level. On what impacts the hospital will see from OBBBA, she said there would likely be an increase in charity care, where healthcare services are provided to patients who are unable to pay their medical bills. Tahoe Forest’s Financial Assistance Program is detailed here in English.

Roth, who began her tenure as a healthcare CEO in 2008/09, and joined TFHS as such in March of this year, said she’s in her comfort zone amid healthcare reformation, though she called President Trump’s Administration the most “cataclysmic” one in her career.

~ AH