Here at Georgia Health Insurance we like to stay on top how the state is spending our tax dollars. Like most states, and the federal government, we are looking at steep budget cuts to keep from going under. All areas are subject to the knife. Roads, schools and even Medicaid are trying to find ways to keep rolling on less money.
When you cut Medicaid, everyone loses, both rich and poor.
Governor Perdue has proposed a 10% cut in Medicaid funding to hospitals. This translates into a loss of almost $81 million.
The proposed Medicaid cut is expected to be magnified since hospitals will lose $2 in federal matching funds for every $1 in state Medicaid money that gets cut, said Kevin Bloye, spokesman for the Georgia Hospital Association.
“When you add the federal matching dollars,” Bloye said, “hospitals could lose an additional $120 million.”
Most hospitals lose money serving Medicaid patients, so this only makes it worse.
The Medicaid cuts could be the “last straw” for some hospitals in the state, industry insiders said.
Hospitals are suffering from rocketing unpaid medical bills, a decline in high margin elective procedures, and the growing rolls of uninsured.
So what happens when hospitals refuse to accept Medicaid patients?
Everyone loses.
“We can see hospital closures, we can see major damage to large hospital systems and we can see individual physicians who are getting out of the business, all because we didn’t take the stimulus package money and use it directly for Medicaid,” hospital lobbyist Jimmy Lewis said.
Oh yeah. About that Spendulus money.
The stimulus money doesn’t come “close” to offsetting the tax revenue hit facing Georgia, Brantley said.
So even Obamaman can’t save us.
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