Hospital payments in question under health care law
A key question if Gov. Phil Bryant gets his wish and Mississippi opts out of a Medicaid expansion under the new health care law is whether the state will lose $210 million in federal funds used to compensate hospitals for care of the uninsured.
Under the federal legislation, Disproportionate Share Hospital payments are slated to be phased out under the assumption that most people will have health insurance either through the Medicaid expansion or other provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
But House Appropriations Chairman Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, said some are making the argument the federal government cannot phase out the DSH payments in states that do not participate in the Medicaid expansion.
“That is a big question,” Frierson said. “Do the DSH payments go away?”
Daily Journal
7/25/12
Magnolia Tribune
