Bush proposal hits hospitals hard
California hospitals would suffer more than $5 billion in administrative and legislative cuts to Medicare and Medi-Cal funding over the next five years under President George Bush's newly released FY 2008 budget.
These reductions "would seriously compromise the ability of California hospitals to care for low-income Californians," says a media statement from California Hospital Association, which represents more than 500 hospitals and health systems, including Community Medical Centers.
The proposal would cut nationwide Medicaid and Medicare spending by $775.8 million over five years. (Medi-Cal is California's version of the Medicaid program.) As with other health care changes proposed in Washington and Sacramento, few or no details have been put into legislative language.
In other health care news:
UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE COALITION: A California alliance is being formed to campaign for universal health care coverage, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The group will be made up of the Service Employees International Union, the California Medical Association, California Healthcare West, Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield of California and Health Net, the story said. The as-yet unnamed alliance has agreed to commit millions of dollars to push for universal coverage, the story said, while not supporting all elements of any particular plan currently being discussed.
MANDATORY PAID SICK LEAVE: On Feb. 5, San Francisco became the first city in the nation to require all businesses to provide paid sick leave to workers, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The law requires companies to provide one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours an employee works, the story said, with a cap of either 40 or 72 hours of leave depending on the size of the business.
DOCUMENTATION CUTS ENROLLMENT: Medicaid enrollment declined in six states after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services required applicants and beneficiaries to provide proof of citizenship to receive care, CQ HealthBeat reported.
RECORD-SETTING DONATION: A chemical industry billionaire has made the largest donation ever recorded to a hospital – $400 million – to Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System in Sioux Falls, S.D. The system will be renamed Sanford Health after its benefactor, T. Denny Sanford, the New York Times reported.
The story said the system will use the funds to: build five pediatric clinics around the country; expand research, especially into pediatrics; build a 20-plus facility health care campus; and identify a medical research target and pursue a cure.
This story was reported by John Taylor. He can be reached at jtaylor@communitymedical.org.