State health officials told members of the Senate Budget Committee on Tuesday that New Jersey's proposed $204.8 million cut to the state's charity care program would help secure Medicaid funding with a more generous federal match. He said the state could get more funding.
New Jersey's charity care program aims to reduce or eliminate certain hospitalization costs based on residents' income and assets and reimburse hospitals for a portion of those costs. The state is considering starting a new program that would allow it to pay some bills directly under Medicaid. The program would give New Jersey $2 from Medicaid for every dollar the state spends, double the amount the state currently receives for charity care.
“In fact, overall, we're seeing more money going to hospitals that treat vulnerable populations, including uninsured and uninsured patients,” Health Commissioner Caitlan Baston told the committee. “It will be.”
Officials said the proposed transition would bring the state $345 million in matching Medicaid funds, more than the proposed $204.8 million in charity care cuts that would go toward the new program.
But the change could cause some confusion, especially since the Department of Health does not oversee state Medicaid spending. That responsibility rests with the Department of Human Services, and Baston said the department still operates the Medicaid numbers for the plan, which must receive federal approval before implementation.
Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), the committee's chairman, said Congress is taking a “wait-and-see approach” to the proposal, but if charity care allocations stop budget talks from He warned that lawmakers would be dissatisfied if there was a delay.
“I don't want to be the chairman who receives it the night before. That doesn't work,” he said. “This committee wants to have enough time to consider these charities, and I think all members agree with that, but we want to make sure we have enough time. thinking about.”
The proposed changes would also adjust reimbursement rates for charity care, pegging reimbursement rates at 40% for the 10 hospitals where charity care is most frequently performed, and requiring hospitals to operate at a loss of 15% or more. If so, it will be fixed at 50%. Acute care hospitals and hospitals in the state's poorest municipalities would receive a 30% rebate.
Currently, reimbursement rates for charity care vary widely, with some cases covering nearly all of the cost of charity care, with a lower limit of 43%.
The impact of the funding transfer will not be clear until the Department of Human Services completes its analysis and cross-checks its numbers with the Department of Health's charity care figures.
Charity care cuts are the centerpiece of a proposed budget that calls for the Department of Health to cut nearly $289 million from projected spending this fiscal year, as New Jersey faces revenue constraints and a widening structural deficit. was. The new budget year he begins on July 1st.
The proposed 9.8% cut would bring the department's spending to just below last year's level, with hospital funding accounting for the bulk of the reduction.
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