Hospitals battle bid to rein in Medicaid [View All]

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Hospitals battle bid to rein in Medicaid
By Barbara Barrett | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Sunday, March 9, 2008




WASHINGTON - As the last months of the Bush administration dwindle away, the White House might yet face another showdown with the Democratic Congress, this one over changes in Medicaid rules that could affect millions of low-income children and adults.

In the past year, the administration has tried to change the rules in a way that would reduce Medicaid spending by $15 billion over the next five years. The federal-state program pays for health care for the nation's poorest citizens.

The rule changes have brought objections from health-care leaders across the country. But the Bush administration say the changes represent tighter controls on Medicaid's rising costs.

Some rule changes, which would be enacted around Memorial Day, would reduce payments to North Carolina by an estimated $320 million next year alone. Hospital leaders and local government officials across the country say that if Congress doesn't block the regulations, patients will lose, particularly the uninsured, who may be turned away.

The state hospital association says workers will be hurt, too. It estimates 3,000 to 6,000 hospital jobs could be lost, up to a thousand of those in rural areas.

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