In a decision that will adversely affect many of Florida's hospitals, state lawmakers decided Thursday "to cut $521 million from hospitals." Nearly one-fifth of those hospitals affected are in the Tampa Bay area.
According to Tampa Bay Times ("Lawmakers are cutting $92 million from Medicaid in Tampa Bay. Which hospitals are hardest hit?"), the cuts will "mostly impact the facilities that take on the largest number of Medicaid patients, including the state’s safety net hospitals." Under this plan, hospitals in the Tampa Bay area will lose $91.7 million.
This plan is expected to pass the state House and Senate today.
While state legislators are trying to balance the budget, this short-sighted plan to cut Medicaid payments will not only hurt hospitals, but those people that these hospitals serve. And it won't hurt only those people on Medicaid - it will adversely hurt all Floridians.
How? Simple. When hospitals - say, St. Petersburg's All Children's Hospital, which serves children from all over the state, including critically ill children - receive less Medicaid money to treat those receiving treatment, the hospitals then have less money to distribute in its system for treating others with more conventional insurance (or those without any insurance at all).
Less money equals less time in the hospital for those who may need longer recovery times from surgery, critical illness, and other long-term recovery in the hospital setting. It also means cut-backs in personnel, including in emergency rooms, which, again, will adversely affect patient care.
What will it take to wake the legislators up to their short-sightedness? Maybe nothing. Maybe a call to your state senators and house representatives.
To read the article in its entirety, including the list of hospitals (which includes Tampa General, All Children's, Bayfront Health-St. Petersburg, and Moffitt Cancer Center), click here.
Click here to call or email your Florida state legislators.
