Hospital Group Letter to
President Urging No Medicare Cuts in FY 2003 Budget
January 16, 2002
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Bush:
On behalf of the approximately 5,000 hospitals our organizations
represent, the thousands of communities they serve, and the
millions of patients for whom they provide care, we urge you
to maintain your commitment to high quality, accessible health
care by fully funding Medicare and Medicaid in your FY 2003
budget blueprint.
At a time when many hospitals are already struggling to meet
increased demands for their services, they also face serious
challenges, including widespread health care worker shortages,
soaring drug and technology costs, stifling regulatory burdens,
and the need to enhance their disaster readiness efforts.
Reductions in Medicare and Medicaid would be devastating.
At the same time, further damage would be done if reductions
currently in the law and scheduled to go into effect in FY
2003 are not repealed - such as Medicaid "disproportionate
share" payments to hospitals that care for large numbers
of Medicaid and uninsured patients; Medicare "indirect
medical education" funding for hospitals that not only
bear the expense of teaching future generations of caregivers,
but also of treating the uninsured; and a scheduled 15 percent
reduction in home health funding that is slated for this October.
Hospitals also struggle with serious payment shortfalls under
Medicaid, and many states are now cutting back on Medicaid
reimbursement. In addition, at the end of 2003 critical provisions
many hospitals depend on to buffer the dramatic losses brought
on by implementation of the Medicare outpatient prospective
payment system in 2000 will be lost.
More than a third of all hospitals already lose money on
Medicare, and another third barely break even. Such funding
shortfalls threaten to jeopardize the health care services
that America's seniors need and deserve, and further cuts
would exacerbate an already tenuous situation. Indeed, we
strongly believe we must not only protect the system from
further cuts, but also shore up those parts of Medicare that
have been historically weak. This includes making improvements
to the rural area wage index and standardized rate, and providing
a full market basket update for inpatient services.
The 2000 Republican Platform includes this statement: "For
Medicare to survive - and more important, to succeed - it
must become a common enterprise of government, health professionals,
and hospitals alike. Rather than continue the practice of
recurrent and unpredictable cuts in provider payments, a reformed
Medicare program will allow health care providers, particularly
those helping rural and underserved populations, to adapt
to changing conditions in health care by providing reimbursement
at levels that will permit health care providers to continue
to care for these patients."
We wholeheartedly agree with this statement. And we urge
you to reject any reductions in the Medicare and Medicaid
programs, and restore funding to vital programs that are scheduled
to experience further cuts in 2003, while preparing your budget
blueprint for next year.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.
Sincerely,
American Hospital Association
Association of American Medical Colleges
Catholic Health Association of the United States
National Association of Children's Hospitals
National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems
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