BOMBSHELL: UNDER tRUMP MANY HOSPITALS CLOSED AS tRUMP CUT MEDICAID/MEDICAIR/ACA REIMBURSEMENTS FOR $1.5 TRILLION TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH
nbcnews.com
"A study released this month by the Chartis Center for Rural Health found that 30 percent of the state’s 105 rural hospitals are economically compromised and in danger of closing."
“Clearly our hospitals cannot take a financial hit — they’re already on the brink," Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, told NBC News. “We’re really looking for ways to help them navigate and change their business models so that we can continue to provide health care services to our rural populations. Any cut in reimbursement is not going to be helpful at all.”
According to the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. That crisis peaked in 2019 with the closing of 19 facilities, and another four have shut their doors so far this year.
The danger of rural hospital closures in Kansas, which lead to a lack of accessibility to emergency care, is in part what has helped propel the conversation for Medicaid expansion forward in the state. Kelly announced last month that she had reached a deal with state Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, a Republican, which they had hoped to have completed at this point in February.
“I don’t see Medicaid expansion as a solution for all that ails our rural hospitals,” Kelly said, “but it would be one more tool in the box to help them work that issue out, and it would help buy them some time to work out a different business model.”
Rural populations are more likely to be uninsured or use Medicaid, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Receiving reimbursement from Medicaid helps make up for facilities that treat those populations.
Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, defended her proposed rule this week.
She wrote in a blog post Wednesday that the current payment system is filled with vulnerabilities that could allow states to game the system and avoid taking full responsibility for payments to providers.
“Data indicates that these additional payments are used unevenly across states, leading to large funding inequities across the nation,” she wrote in defense of the new rule. “As providers come up with creative strategies to put up the state’s match, they are essentially allowing the state to skirt its responsibility to finance part of the program while increasing Medicaid costs without any clear connection to the volume or quality of services delivered.” |
