Klein wants to block Medicaid reimbursement changes

The proposed changes that Klein wants to block would “financially devastate” Florida hospitals resulting in a $4.6 billion cut in Medicaid payments over a five-year period, he said.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed capping payments to hospitals by limiting payments to public and publicly supported providers and narrowing funding sources available to finance Medicaid expenditures.

Source Boca News

Published Friday, March 16, 2007
by By John Johnston


U.S. Rep. Ron Klein (D-22) has introduced legislation that would block proposed changes to the Medicaid reimbursement system.

The proposed changes that Klein wants to block would “financially devastate” Florida hospitals resulting in a $4.6 billion cut in Medicaid payments over a five-year period, he said.

District 22 hospitals alone would stand to lose $14.8 million alone, said Klein. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (D-18) joined him in introducing the bill.

The Klein and Ros-Lehtinen's bill would place a two-year moratorium on the proposed rule. The bill is a companion to bill S.787 that Senator Mel Martinez (FL) introduced earlier this month.

"This rule could effectively reverse successful efforts by Governor Jeb Bush and other state leaders in Florida to offset the cost of indigent health care," said Klein. "It is disappointing that this administration is putting an even greater burden on our hospitals that must treat everyone who comes into the emergency room. Our bill would suspend this proposed change to the Medicaid reimbursement process. It is simply unfair to punish our local hospitals that are barely able to make ends meet as it is, because of the federal government's reckless spending habits."

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed capping payments to hospitals by limiting payments to public and publicly supported providers and narrowing funding sources available to finance Medicaid expenditures. The new rule would uniquely impact Florida because it would effectively eliminate the Florida's Low Income Pool (LIP) program, which CMS recently approved as an innovative federal waiver.

Klein said his two-year moratorium on the ruling would provide ample time to examine the impact that the proposed CMS ruling would have on Florida and other states, “especially those states with Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP).”

John Johnston can be reached at 561-549-0833, or at jjohnston@bocanews.com