In the news
Wisconsin Hospital Association Launches Statewide Ad Campaign
Wisconsin Hospital Association news release, April 15, 2008
Ads call attention to hospital assessment proposal in state Legislature, urge action
MADISON (April 15, 2008) ---- The Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) on Tuesday announced a statewide radio ad campaign to bring attention to a hospital assessment proposal currently being discussed in the Wisconsin State Legislature.
The proposal would boost the amount of Medicaid funding Wisconsin receives from the federal government by over $400 million. Those dollars would be used to increase funding for Medicaid and ultimately ease the burden of health care costs on businesses and consumers in the state.
“Wisconsin ranks among the lowest in the nation in terms of payments to hospitals for treating Medicaid patients, which ends up increasing everyone’s health care costs,” said WHA President Steve Brenton. “Increasing the amount of money Wisconsin gets back from the federal government for Medicaid will help address this problem.”
In his 2007-2009 budget plan, Gov. Jim Doyle proposed an assessment on hospitals as a way to capture additional federal dollars for Medicaid. The proposal followed the lead of over 20 other states that successfully maximize their federal funding for Medicaid. The revenue generated by an assessment on hospitals allows states to bring in additional federal matching funds.
Wisconsin ranks 49th in the country in Medicaid payments to hospitals, reimbursing only about 48 cents of every $1 hospitals spend caring for Medicaid patients. As a result, over $600 million in unpaid costs are shifted to everyone else. At the same time, Wisconsin is in the bottom half of states when it comes to getting back federal tax dollars.
“Wisconsin ranks 39th in the amount of federal dollars returned to the state,” Brenton said. “The hospital assessment will bring back more of the tax dollars we already send to Washington and help reduce health care costs at the same time.”
The ads being run by WHA point out that by assessing hospitals, the state would get back an additional $410 million in federal funding, which would help alleviate the costs of providing health care to Wisconsin children and eliminate the shifting of unpaid Medicaid costs onto consumers and businesses.
Hospitals, business groups, a bi-partisan majority of legislators, and the Governor support the proposal.
For more information, please visit www.stoptheshift.org.
The Wisconsin Hospital Association is a coalition of Wisconsin health care providers committed to advocating for the ability of its members to provide high quality health care services to Wisconsin communities. For more information, please visit www.wha.org.
Contact: Mary Kay Grasmick 608-274-1820 (office) 608-575-7516 (cell)