CONCORD – With 2026 healthcare open enrollment beginning next week, federal cuts passed by Republicans could force skyrocketing premiums and will have a “tsunami effect” which will dramatically impact residents, cripple some health-care providers but not necessarily impact insurance “claim deniers and premium extractors,” Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander told health-care providers and patients, Friday.
The freshman Democrat from Nashua convened a meeting with healthcare providers and patients across her District 2 area at Riverbend counseling services in Concord and wanted to find out what “top of mind issues” are out there as the impacts from an $80 million clawback are already being realized and many who receive “Obamacare” are expecting to pay huge premium increases if something isn’t done in Washington.
Goodlander said she has been working to see a continuation of such support for the next 10 years and is also eyeing impacts of the federal government shutdown in its 23rd day.
She heard that if nothing changes it is likely that there will be increased medical debt, skyrocketing cases of uncompensated care, increased homelessness, people going without medication and potential for more incarceration due to that.
The meeting came at the same time state officials were correcting a press release it sent out on Thursday about supplemental food benefits which could be delayed due to the federal government shut down if it continues into November.
The state announced a contingency plan involving help from the NH Food Bank and various locations throughout the state which serve as food pantries on Thursday but Kathleen Remillard, deputy communications director for the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said in an email “the language in our press release regarding the suspension of WIC services in certain locations has caused some confusion among WIC participants and stakeholders. We apologize if this has caused confusion with your readers as well.
“…If the federal shutdown lasts into November, DHHS support for WIC program services at the following locations may be temporarily paused starting on November 1 due to a lack of federal funding:
Community Action Program Belknap-Merrimack Counties
Goodwin Community Health Somersworth
Community Action Partnership Hillsborough & Rockingham Counties
Southwestern Community Services”
That is a big concern for Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, R-Wakefield, who said he worries for babies in rural areas who get their formula from those locations.
He said there is always confusion with government shutdowns and they always cost more.
“I am sure executive directors are putting their heads together to find some solutions and I think the government will reopen in a few weeks,” he said in a telephone interview.
Goodlander met with care providers and some who have already been impacted by the Republican- led cuts to Medicaid and heard that uncompensated care is already a problem.
While Democrats refused to sign on to a plan to keep the government running, demanding a reversal of the sunsetting ACA or “Obamacare” subsidies, Republicans have said they would be willing to handle the two matters separately.
Polls show overwhelmingly that the public wants to extend those subsidies.
She said estimates that there are 29,000 Granite Staters who will lose much of their subsidies is a “very conservative number.”
The hour and half roundtable discussion included comments from a cancer patient who is worried about the cost of medication she needs to survive.
Many care providers said the changes will make insurance unaffordable for some and could lead to more negative health outcomes.
Healthcare workforce recruiting and advancing a new generation of providers is also a potential concern expressed.
Almost 30 percent of all New Hampshire kids are on Medicaid and maintaining the funding is absolutely essential to help these kids thrive, she was told.
Concord Mayor Byron Champlin said community based mental health services are not as they should be to begin with and said he has concerns with reductions in Medicaid feeding into homeless issues. He said he feared it could lead to more homelessness.
Goodlander said she is doing everything she can in Washington on this issue.
“We’ve got good partners at the state level who are rowing in the same direction, too,” Goodlander said. She said “we’ve got to keep these programs.”
Goodlander pointed a finger not only at the Trump Administration for the crisis but for-profit health care providers and large for profit insurance companies “which puts profit over people….what I fear is this administration…is in a position to do something right now and I don’t think this is the direction they are going.”
She asked about how the agencies are preparing to deal with their patients who will be facing “sticker shock” after Nov. 1 when the healthcare marketplace opens up and people learn that their premiums for 2026 are going to skyrocket.
Non-profit hospital officials said the margins are so tight and there is no safety net and a fear that uncompensated care will push some providers over the edge.
The gathering was attended by Mark Gallagher, of Protect Our Care NH; Dr. Christine Arsnow, pediatrician at Concord Hospital and President of NH American Academy of Pediatrics; a cancer patient identified only as “Michelle,” from Henniker and “Becca” an Affordable Care Act enrollee from Concord.
The behavioral health emergency room boarding crisis continues in the state and on Friday there were 10 adults and five children waiting for care at emergency rooms, the group was told.
The congresswoman was also told there are about 70 people at the state mental hospital who don’t need to be there but have nowhere to go.
“The full continuum of care needs to be funded,” she said. “We’re struggling to find those resources.”
