With Medicaid Cuts Pending, Urban Hospitals Plead for Protection
Safety-net hospital advocates say funding reductions could be premature, repeat call for local tax.
The hospitals that serve New Jersey’s poorest residents are asking state officials and legislators for protection from potential cuts in federal Medicaid funding, arguing that it’s premature to say how quickly they will benefit from increasing the number of residents with health insurance.
Under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, most Americans are required to have health insurance, which was expected to benefit the hospitals that have long provided charity care to the uninsured. With hospitals expected to receive more insurance payments, the law included a series of cuts to the federal program that traditionally funded charity care.
But hospitals are concerned that the cuts will occur before enough people become newly insured through private insurance.(Kithcenman/NJSpotlight)