Hospitals push Congress to halt planned $8 billion reduction in Medicaid funding

Healthcare representatives from across the United States are urging Congress to halt cuts to funding that funds hospital care for uninsured or low-income patients who rely on Medicaid (Source: “Hospitals plead with Congress to avert $8 billion in cuts in Medicaid funding,” Ohio Capital Journal, Sept. 18).

More than 250 hospitals and health systems appealed to House and Senate leadership in a letter asking the lawmakers to avert or delay a forthcoming $8 billion cut to “America’s health care safety net.”

The reduction to the Medicaid disproportionate share hospital funding is scheduled for Oct. 1, as mandated under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The deadline comes as Congress faces partisan roadblocks to fund the government and renew a number of expiring federal programs by the end of the fiscal year, or Sept. 30.

The fund compensates hospitals that treat a disproportionate number of uninsured patients or low-income patients whose government-provided Medicaid coverage pays a lower rate than private insurance or Medicare. The ACA provision, written under the premise that rates of uninsured people would continue to decrease, requires $8 billion per year in cuts from 2024 to 2027.