Kansas hospitals seek federal intervention to stop Medicaid cuts

It's about time someone did something about the horrible destruction being inflicted on the State of Kansas by our thoughtlessly neglective Governor, Sam Brownback. Action needs to be taken. What Brownback is doing to this state and the medical profession is just plain criminal. He is harming both the hospitals, that the people of Kansas rely on and the poorer citizens who are presently being denied their basic healthcare needs. To deliberately let people die from medical neglect is nothing short of murder. And people in many rural parts of the state have no real alternatives if their hospitals go under. Some people may be as much as a hundred miles from the nearest hospital if these trends continue. Brownback must be stopped at all costs. -SJ Otto   

From KHI News Service:

By Jim McLean

The Kansas Hospital Association is urging federal officials to stop Gov. Sam Brownback from implementing $56.4 million in Medicaid cuts set to take effect Friday.

Brownback ordered the cuts in May to cover shortfalls in the fiscal year 2017 budget approved by the Legislature. The hospital association is asking the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to immediately intervene to stop the cuts, which include a 4 percent reduction in provider payments.

“Kansas is attempting to fund its self-inflicted budget deficit in substantial part on the backs of Medicaid patients and hospitals and other health care providers,” wrote Tom Bell, KHA president and chief executive, in a June 29 letter to Andy Slavitt, the acting administrator of CMS.

Download the Kansas Hospital Association Letter to CMS on Medicaid Reimbursement Cuts

Under normal circumstances, the state would be permitted to implement the cuts before submitting a Medicaid plan amendment to CMS for approval. But Bell argues federal officials need to act quickly to prevent cuts that he and others say could limit Medicaid beneficiaries’ access to care.

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Photo by KHI News Service File Tom Bell, left, president and CEO of the Kansas Hospital Association, sent a letter to federal officials asking them to immediately intervene to stop $56.4 million in Medicaid cuts set to take effect Friday.