“Because policymakers expected all states to expand Medicaid and thus reduce their uninsured populations, the Affordable Care Act also included a schedule of accelerating cuts to Disproportionate Share Hospital payments, reaching $5.6 billion by fiscal year 2019, according to Governing magazine. “But thanks to lobbying around the budget deal reached last month, the Disproportionate Share Hospital program dodged $500 billion in cuts in 2014 and another $600 billion in 2015.”
“The delay is a particularly big deal for our county hospitals that are not doing the Medicaid expansion,” Beddoe said. “We also can’t overlook the fact that there are public hospitals in states that are expanding that will breathe a sigh of relief because of the high number of undocumented people they serve.”
The deal delayed, but did not eliminate the cuts. The full cuts take effect in 2016, hopefully allowing time for the federal government and states to work out block grant agreements to encourage innovative ways of providing care for the uninsured below the poverty line.
“Because policymakers expected all states to expand Medicaid and thus reduce their uninsured populations, the Affordable Care Act also included a schedule of accelerating cuts to Disproportionate Share Hospital payments, reaching $5.6 billion by fiscal year 2019, according to Governing magazine. “But thanks to lobbying around the budget deal reached last month, the Disproportionate Share Hospital program dodged $500 billion in cuts in 2014 and another $600 billion in 2015.”
“The delay is a particularly big deal for our county hospitals that are not doing the Medicaid expansion,” Beddoe said. “We also can’t overlook the fact that there are public hospitals in states that are expanding that will breathe a sigh of relief because of the high number of undocumented people they serve.”
The deal delayed, but did not eliminate the cuts. The full cuts take effect in 2016, hopefully allowing time for the federal government and states to work out block grant agreements to encourage innovative ways of providing care for the uninsured below the poverty line.
