Who is Medicaid? Popular programs may be in the cutting board
7.2 million people in the United States are registered in Medicaid, a federal and state health insurance program for low -income people.
In Mason General Hospital, Medicaid, a state insurance program for those with low income or disability, is guaranteed.
Eric Moll, who supervises the hospital as the CEO of Mason Health, said that registration has grown steadily over the past decade. The intervention of the AFODABLE CARE Act and the Era of Peninsula, which passed under the Obama administration, expanded access to government insurance programs. This expansion helped to reduce the level of treatment that the hospital is not compensated and maintain more stable.
Now, like many people from all over Washington, Shelton Hospital is wrapping up what can happen when Congress returns. Many people worry about A The Republican Republican’s budget proposal will take control of Medicaid.I leave the hospital to deal with Nakjin.
Mass General is paying about $ 37.5 million for Medicaid, Moll said. Depending on the current proposal, it will lose about $ 8 million. Many patients will suddenly find themselves without health insurance and have no way to pay the hospital, so the loss of unlawful treatment will be partially led.
Apple Health, the main Medicaid version, accounts for about 1.8 million people in Washington. This includes 24%of the sixth parliamentary districts in Washington, which includes some of GIG Harbor, KitsAP County, Olympic Peninsula and Tacoma. The snapshot report was released in February by US Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash..
These patients have an unbalanced tendency, Moll said. Many people just start their family or are in the early stages of career. They may have a means of not being insurance or commercial insurance through employers.
For example, about 75%of mason generals’ gynecology delivery is applied with Medicaid.
If Medicaid is cut, unlawful treatment will increase. This can be difficult for the hospital to maintain profitability and increase the risk of stopping services. Unpaid treatment is a special challenge of rural hospitals with thin margins and are likely that patients will not be insured.
Moll said, “They will still exist. It is just a treatment that doesn’t have a coverage and an unlisted treatment.” This means a greater financial burden on the hospital because it provides services without repayment.
Uncertainty comes from the federal deficit plan.
A wide range of concerns about Medicade have been found to reduce the deficit by more than $ 880 billion over the next decade by ordering the Republican Republican Party of the US House of Representatives, and the House of Representatives and Commercial Commissions supervising Medicaid.
Republican leaders said that the reduction of Medicaid was removed from the table, but it was still unclear how to achieve the desired cut. Energy and Commerce Committe seems to be impossible to find sufficient cuts without changes in Medicaid. According to the report of KFF Health News,Health Industry News site.
The situation is added Uncertainty of swirling among medical service providers Since Donald Trump took office, his administration tried to significantly reduce federal spending on the Kitz Cap Peninsula.
All cuts will be placed in a dangerous financial state. The US representative EMILY RANDALL, D-Bremerton, said forks’ hospitals, Port Angeles and Elma’s hospitals are already struggling to pay and offer people.
“If the Republican Party of this executive and parliament is effective and successful in delivering $ 880 billion in reducing people’s health care, the hospitals will have to close the door and leave our community without health care.”
Growing up at KitsAP County, Randall has long advocated Medicaid. The representative of the freshmen said that the family can financially stable and take care of his sister Olivia, who was born to congenital disorders. Randall told the story on the floor of the House of Representatives, saying that he is worried about the ripple effect of Medicide cut and life that can be at risk.
“I’m scared. I’m afraid of my constituency. I’m afraid of my neighbors. I’m just afraid of medical service providers who are trying to do their work,” she said. “If this budget resolution is the law, I’m afraid of the effects of the next few years.”
Medicaid dependence on repayment
West Sound Hospital relies less on imports of Medicaid. People in East and Central WashingtonThe registration fee tends to be higher. However, according to the state health data, all hospitals receive at least one tenth of the annual income from the Medicide repayment.
MOLL even said that it was “a substance in all hospitals.”
According to the main data analysis, GIG Harbor’s Silverdale and St. Anthony Hospital St. The Michael Medical Center earns about 13%of its revenue from Medicaid, respectively. The owner of the two hospitals, Virginia Mason Fran, did not confirm the opinion on the effect of cuts on whether the number was correct or the reduction of Medicaid.
Mike Glenn, CEO of Port Townsend’s Jefferson Healthcare, said in a Cantwell report that thousands of low -income residents from Medicaid will threaten the hospital’s finances and reduce their service.
In the same report, Darryl Wole, CEO of Port Angeles and SEQUIM’s Olympic Medical Center, said that further cuts will endanger the financial state of the hospital. This is Olympic Medical Center I’m already having a financial difficulty At the end of last year, he announced that he started looking for a partnership to maintain the service.
“It’s not a secret that hospitals and nationwide hospitals are having a hard time.”
Consultation with the main association on how the cut can proceed
It’s not clear about what can happen in Medicaid, but there are signs of being in the hearts of hospital officials.
The Washington State Hospital Association recently hosted a training for members of the hospital board of directors. Cassie Sauer, the CEO of the Association, said they attended one of the training.
“I’m really angry,” she said. “It’s hard to say that they appear and say, ‘We really think about this.'”
In the next few weeks, Sauer will talk about the potential reduction with the hospital boards of Forks, Gray Harbor County and Jefferson County. She can’t be sure what’s going to happen, but all changes, including things like work requirements, will be added to the burden facing the State Hospital.
Many hospitals removed from the epidemic for five years are still in a bad place. Sauer said the insurance repayment rate did not maintain speed as the cost of almost everything rose, and 70%of the hospital continued to lose money after the infectious disease.
She said during the epidemic, “it was very difficult.” The hospital had to stop surgery and other procedures, earned money and subsidies to emergency rooms, labor and delivery departments.
The hospital is also brace for cuts at the main level. Washington is faced with large -scale expenditures, estimated at $ 14 billion over the next four years. Sauer said the hospital system expects to cut about $ 330 million.
Sauer said, “All of these suggestions are all bad and arrive at the same time.” There are many hospitals that try to find out what they will do. “
Reductions to Medicaid can add fuel to the fire. About half of Washington’s birth is covered by Medicaid. Without repayment, the hospital struggles to open the service and affects the government and commercial issue.
Delayed Medicaid Payment has already affected Washington’s minimum hospital. Last month, Renton’s Valley Medical Center announced that it had reduced more than 100 non -clinical jobs by maintaining Medicaid funds.
Moll said that Mason General has not planned to reduce his current vision. Before reducing manpower, negative profit margin is operated as a temporary negative profit margin and is ready to delay capital plans.
“As a small rural hospital, it is difficult to maintain indefinite operations due to millions of dollars of operating losses. This is where we started planning.” “We have the cost isolation we started to work, and we will start to do it.”
Conor Wilson is a Murrow News Fellow, and a program managed by Washington State University reports about KitsAp Sun and Gig Harbor NOW, a non -profit newsroom headquartered in GIG Harbor.
