Detroit — The CEOs of two of Michigan’s leading health care systems expressed concern Wednesday about how the future of Affordable Care Act subsidies — a key sticking point between Democrats and Republicans amid a federal government shutdown — could affect patient care here.

At a health care innovation forum held by the Detroit Economic Club, Corewell health President and CEO Tina Freese Decker told The Detroit News she was hopeful that enhanced set to expire at year’s end would be extended as part of an agreement in Congress to pass a continuing resolution and reopen the government. Democrats are demanding the extension as part of the price for the votes needed to approve a spending bill in the Senate, while Republicans are opposed, triggering the shutdown that began Wednesday.

“We’re really focused on how to we continue to provide care to all of our communities and as funding decreases, we have to think about different ways to provide that care,” Decker said.

Corewell Health needs funding for telehealth services it is providing, she said: “Telehealth is critical to world health care especially and provides access and convenience to patients as they go forward.

“I think it’s important that people get access to care,” Decker said. Insurance is one of those components to it.”

Bob Riney, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health, told The News that the Affordable Care Act, passed in 2010, stabilized a population in need of health care and gave patients primary care physicians and urgent care facilities they could access rather than waiting until they were really ill to be seen by a doctor in an emergency room. Health care advocates have warned that insurance premiums for millions of people will spike if the tax credits approved during the COVID-19 pandemic expire.

Riney said he doesn’t want to see fewer people with health care coverage as a result of the dispute between Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

“I’m hopeful that as they struggle with the packaging that they don’t lose sight of the real issue, which is people should be insured and have access to basic coverage because they’re going to access care one way or the other, and it’s going to cost the country one way one or the other, so why not do it in the best way,” Riney said.

mjohnson@detroitnews.com

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