Senate Budget Version Impacts Missourians’ Access to Care, Hospitals Ability to Provide Care

The Missouri Hospital Association’s leader today outlined impacts on Missourians’ health care based on the U.S. Senate’s passage of its version of H.R. 1.

“H.R. 1, as amended by the U.S. Senate, would harm those covered by Medicaid, all Missourians’ access to health care, the ability of hospitals to provide care and our state’s budget — especially when compared to the carefully constructed compromise crafted and adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives,” Jon D. Doolittle, president and CEO of the Missouri Hospital Association, said. “MHA advocacy continues with Missouri’s representatives as H.R. 1 returns to the House for further consideration.”

Doolittle said significant cuts in the Senate language include:

• Phased- in cuts to provider taxes to 3.5% - a rate that would result in a nearly $1.2 billion annual loss to Missouri’s health care funding when fully implemented. Missouri's 10-year average rate for the provider tax has been 5.47%. 
• Capped state-directed payments, an important funding system for hospitals, at 100% of Medicare reimbursement rates.

“Missouri’s hospitals are committed to working with state and federal leaders to mitigate impacts of these cuts and ensure all Missourians who are eligible for Medicaid coverage remain covered and enrolled,” Doolittle said.

Doolittle said Missouri’s Gov. Mike Kehoe and Sen. Josh Hawley were instrumental in curtailing more significant cuts, such as an amendment offered by Sen. Rick Scott, of Florida, which would have reduced the federal match for Missouri’s Medicaid expansion population from 90% to 65% and impacted Missouri’s annual budget by more than $800 million. Doolittle also credited Sen. Hawley’s influence in delaying the start of provider tax cuts by one year. 

Doolittle added that MHA welcomes the Senate’s nationwide, five-year $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program set to begin next year that would aid rural hospitals that are already financially strained. However, this more immediate relief would be outweighed by the provider tax and state-directed payment cuts by the end of the decade. In addition, those cuts would directly impact hospitals, while the program funding could flow to other providers in the health care system.

“We will continue to help Missouri’s citizens and hospitals navigate this fluid situation,” Doolittle said. “MHA is proud to advocate for the people of Missouri by projecting impacts of legislative changes and protecting Missouri’s hospitals’ abilities to serve their communities.”