Delay or eliminate the FY 2020 Medicaid disproportionate share payment cut, NASH has asked Senator Charles Grassley in a recent letter.

The cut, mandated by the Affordable Care Act but delayed three times by Congress, was envisioned as an appropriate response to what was expected to be a significant decrease in the number of uninsured Americans as a result of the 2010 health reform law.  In his news release, Senator Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, notes that Congress has delayed implementing this Medicaid DSH cut three times and needs to address the issue definitively.

In its letter, NASH maintains that the Affordable Care Act has not reduced the number of uninsured Americans as much as anticipated, leaving private safety-net hospitals and others still to provide significant amounts of uncompensated care to their low-income and uninsured patients and therefore still in need of their full Medicaid DSH payments.

NASH also argues that uncertainty in the health care arena today – legislative and judicial challenges to the Affordable Care Act, states changing the eligibility criteria and benefits of their Medicaid programs, the instability of health insurance marketplaces, and more – makes this an inappropriate time to reduce payments to safety-net hospitals, possibly jeopardizing access to care in low-income areas as a result.

Learn more by reading Senator Grassley’s news release and NASH’s letter to him.