In testimony before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, five hospital leaders presented material demonstrating that the proposed cuts to Medicaid would cause the nation’s trauma centers to “go under” if they took effect. The committee held the first of two days of hearings May 5 on the impact of the Medicaid regulations, slated to take effect May 26, on hospital emergency surge capacity.
Despite the warnings that “America’s emergency departments are already operating at or over capacity,” said committee chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), “the Department [of Health and Human Services] has issued three Medicaid regulations that will reduce federal funds to public and teaching hospitals by tens of billions of dollars over the next five years.”
“This is incomprehensible,” said Waxman. “It appears that Secretary Leavitt signed regulations that will take hundreds of millions of dollars away from hospital emergency rooms without once considering the impact on national preparedness.” Read the testimonies.
