The Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments, which have been paid on a monthly basis to insurers for the past three years, are an integral part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Whether to continue with the payments is a central issue in the ongoing health care reform debate in Washington.

The CSR program is critical to our ability to provide comprehensive and affordable care to patients across the country but it is caught in an unresolved legal quagmire.

Assuming the payments are made, a question remains: For how long?

Regardless, the outcome would likely be millions either losing or dropping coverage with the consequence that they would no longer seek medical care until it was an emergency -- a return to the old days. If this market disruption happens, I believe individual and community health will decline because patients will be shut out of the health care system because it's no longer affordable.

Hospitals will certainly be negatively impacted if the subsidies are eliminated. If millions of Americans lose or drop their coverage, we will see a jump in bad debt and uncompensated care -- that is care for which we receive no payments. In this scenario, everyone else will face higher premiums, higher deductibles and higher out-of-pocket costs to help cover those who no longer have coverage.

Eliminating CSR payments would have an immediate, negative impact on patients -- their health and their finances will take a huge hit. These payments give patients who need the most help the stability they need to ensure they receive the high-quality care they deserve.

Our elected officials, in the name of individual and community health, must continue to fund CSR payments until a better solution is developed for the people who need care the most.

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Why Washington should continue billions in health care subsidies - CNN