Proposed Senate Health Care Cuts Will Reduce Health Care Access for All Michigan...

Proposed Senate Health Care Cuts Will Reduce Health Care Access for All
Michigan Citizens

LANSING, Mich., June 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Proposed Senate cuts of
more than $200 million in general fund support for Medicaid could reduce
access to health care for many Michigan families and raise costs for everyone
if the Senate budget recommendations are adopted by the state House and the
governor. Combined with the loss of federal matching funds for Medicaid, the
cut to health care could grow to more than $600 million, according to The
Partnership for Michigan's Health.

The Partnership, which includes the Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS), the
Michigan Osteopathic Association (MOA) and the Michigan Health & Hospital
Association (MHA), urges the Senate to reconsider the proposed cuts and use
the federal stimulus health care dollars as they were intended: to maintain
the safety net for a record-high 1.7 million residents who rely on Medicaid
for their coverage.

Members of the Partnership agree that it's simply not good public policy to
cut health care at a time of skyrocketing Medicaid enrollment and
unemployment, a statewide physician and nursing shortage, and increasing
co-pays and deductibles which are leading residents to delay their care while
their conditions worsen.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the MDCH recommended the following
cuts pertinent to Michigan hospitals and physicians:

-- 8 percent cut to hospital and physician rates
-- a similar 8 percent cut to all other Medicaid providers
-- elimination of adult Medicaid optional services (chiropractic,
podiatric, dental and hearing)

-- $10 million in savings that the MDCH is instructed to produce from
Medicaid co-payments and premiums

An 8 percent cut to hospital inpatient and outpatient rates will result in
lost funds totaling more than $112 million ($32 million in general funds and
$80 million in federal matching funds).

"We understand that the state is in a financial crisis, but further cuts to
Michigan's already grossly underfunded health care infrastructure will cause
real, human suffering in every one of Michigan's 38 Senate districts," said
MHA president Spencer Johnson. "Cuts should not be made that cause human pain.
All of our state senators must acknowledge that health care is not just an
important function of state government, but an essential one."

"With additional cuts, hospitals may be forced to eliminate programs and
reduce services which will affect everyone in a community," Johnson said.
"There is no place left to 'trim the fat.'"

Also troublesome is the resulting loss of federal matching dollars from the
cuts. For every $1Michigan spends on Medicaid, the federal government sends an
additional $2.33 to the state. So for every $1 the Legislature cuts from
Medicaid, Michigan patients and providers lose $3.33 in essential health care
funding.

"These federal matching funds are crucial to the ability to provide health
care to Michigan residents," said Johnson. "Cutting Medicaid means leaving
federal matching dollars on the table."

"Medicaid is not the place to make cuts," echoed MSMS president Richard E.
Smith, MD. "Medicaid cuts will make it harder for many Michigan children, the
elderly, and the disabled to access health care, and that is unacceptable."

Dr. Smith pointed out that "declining Medicaid reimbursement affects health
care access not only for Medicaid patients, but for every patient in Michigan
because when a physician leaves a community or hospital services are
eliminated, that care is lost to everyone."

"Despite an estimated $2.2 billion targeted to Medicaid in federal stimulus
funding over 27 months, the state Senate is proposing to cut provider
reimbursement by 8 percent which is a stunning disregard for the health of
Michigan residents," said MOA executive director Dennis Paradis. "Additional
Medicaid cuts will erode Michigan's health care delivery system and further
constrain access to care at a time of Michigan's greatest need," said Paradis.

"The unintended consequences of these cuts will continue for decades," Paradis
said. "All patients will find it more difficult to access health care and the
physician shortage in our state will be exacerbated. Physicians and hospitals
are asking state leaders to protect health care access for all."

The Partnership acknowledges that the state is in dire financial straits, but
cuts to Medicaid will harm people, abandon federal funding, and further
destabilize the state's fragile health care system.

SOURCE The Partnership for Michigan's Health

David Fox of Michigan State Medical Society, +1-517-336-5731; Kevin Downey of
Michigan Health & Hospital Association, +1-517-703-8623; or Jill Higgins of
Michigan Osteopathic Health & Hospital Association, +1-517-347-1555, all of
The Partnership for Michigan's Health