Obama's Plan Would Cut Payments to Teaching Hospitals

Washington — Teaching hospitals’ fears were realized this past weekend, when President Obama said he would cut subsidies to hospitals that treat large numbers of the uninsured to help finance a sweeping expansion of the nation’s health-care system.

The proposals, which the president outlined in his weekly radio address on Saturday, are included in more than $600-billion in cuts that he has proposed making in Medicare and Medicaid spending by 2019.

Last year the federal government provided $27-billion in “disproportionate share payments” to compensate hospitals for the costs they incur by treating large numbers of low-income patients and people who are uninsured. States matched some of that money.

The administration argues that the need for such payments will decline as more people become insured under the president’s plan. But teaching hospitals, which provide almost three-quarters of the care for the uninsured, fear they could end up worse off than they were before the overhaul, particularly if the law does not cover undocumented immigrants.

Of the 45.6 million Americans who are uninsured, 10 million are undocumented immigrants, and many of them seek treatment at teaching hospitals. —Kelly Field