Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran is hailing the passage of a budget bill that makes drastic cuts to Medicaid after he made changes that he said will protect Kansas hospitals from the effect of the cuts. But health care stakeholders argue it’s not enough to keep some state hospitals from shutting down certain services or closing completely.
The U.S. Senate passed President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation bill 51-50 on Tuesday after Vice President J.D. Vance broke a deadlocked vote with his support. House lawmakers signed off on the Senate’s changes on Thursday, sending the bill to Trump’s desk for final approval.
Along with Moran, Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and Reps. Derek Schmidt, Tracey Mann and Ron Estes voted in favor of the bill. Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids voted against it.
Analysis by Manatt Health, a company that offers consulting and legal services focused on health care, estimates Kansas hospitals will lose up to $2.65 billion of federal and state Medicaid funding over the next 10 years.
Moran had expressed concern about how Medicaid cuts included in the bill would impact Kansans and state hospitals. In a news release following the Senate vote, he said he worked closely with Kansas hospital leaders to amend the bill before its passage — including a provision setting aside $50 billion of emergency funds for rural hospitals facing closure.
Moran said he also added changes that focus on financing tools that states and hospitals use to cover their portion of Medicaid, like state directed payments. He said he added a one-year delay to those funding reductions to allow health care providers more time to access the funds.
“I was able to make changes to the legislation to make certain Kansas hospitals will not face any immediate cuts upon enactment of this legislation,” Moran said.
But Davids told reporters at a press event that the fund will not be enough to protect rural hospitals, which often rely on federally subsidized health care programs.
“That’s a Band-Aid for a problem that’s being created by the consistent attempts to undercut Medicaid,” she said.
Some health organizations in Kansas agree.
David Jordan, president and CEO at United Methodist Health Ministry Fund in Kansas, said in a statement that the Senate amendments won’t offset the money the state and its hospitals will lose.
“It’s not a viable long-term solution,” Jordan said. “Our hospitals cannot afford to absorb billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts without cutting services and or possibly closing their doors.”
Cindy Samuelson, senior vice president of the Kansas Hospital Association, agrees with Jordan. She said she was grateful for the safeguards Moran added to the bill, but other cuts will hurt Kansas residents who rely on the federal program.
For instance, Samuelson said Medicaid provides coverage to 360,000 Kansans, covers the costs for about a third of Kansas births and pays the fees for nearly two-thirds of nursing home residents in the state. Samuelson also said a majority of Kansas hospitals are already operating while losing money, and it’s unclear how the emergency funding Moran created would work. Meanwhile, more Kansans will go uninsured, driving up uncompensated care and health care costs for everyone in the state.
Samuelson said Kansas hospitals and community leaders will then have to make difficult decisions. That likely means some hospital services will go away, like behavioral health, OB-GYN, and dialysis.
“We know senators are working really hard to make sure that all the things in our state have some protection, “ Samuelson said. “But with that said, it's still taking its toll, cutting a program that's essential.”
Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga reports on health care disparities and access for the Kansas News Service. You can email her at r.shackelford@kcur.org.
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