Kansas Governor Sam Brownback’s tax plan for hospitals has come under fire from a prominent member of the Kansas health community.
Tom Bell, president and CEO of the Kansas Hospital Association, recently penned a letter to the Garden City Telegram’s editorial page. In it Bell notes that Governor Brownback has said he wants to reverse a 4 percent tax rate cut Brownback himself instituted. But in order to pay for the tax cut reversal, Brownback has suggested he will increase the current hospital provider tax.
Bell insists that’s the equivalent of taxing the entities that were hurt the worst by the tax cut. He said the governor’s hospital tax increase shows a lack of understanding of the interdependence of Kansas hospitals. Bell added, “all hospitals are challenged by the Medicaid cuts and all hospitals will be even more challenged by an increase in the hospital provider tax.”