The issue
Medicaid payments to hospitals fall far short
Hospitals have not received a rate increase for Medicaid services in 12 years. Rates have not been adjusted to keep pace with inflation, and the gap between what it costs a hospital to treat a Medicaid patient and what a hospital is paid for those services continues to widen.
The Wisconsin Hospital Association calculates that the Medicaid shortfall for all Wisconsin hospitals totaled $2.98 billion over the last 12 years. In 2006 alone, the shortfall for Milwaukee area hospitals totaled $205 million. Most of that cost presumably was shifted to employers and consumers through higher insurance premiums – the so-called “hidden tax.”
This enormous hidden tax continues to threaten the competitiveness of Wisconsin businesses and the quality of life we enjoy in our state.