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| Wilson/Skeen Gain Hospital Funding For Low Income Patients |
November 05, 1999 |
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| WASHINGTON -- Congresswoman Heather Wilson and Congressman Joe Skeen today announced that Medicaid funding has been restored permanently for New Mexico hospitals that serve low-income patients. The correction was included in H.R. 3075, the Medicare Balanced Budget Refinement Act which passed the House by a vote of 388-25 this morning.
The New Mexico Representatives had requested funding after it was discovered that the Medicaid formula for hospitals that serve the health care needs of the poor was miscalculated for New Mexico. The Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH) serve the poorest people -- those "indigent" patients that are without insurance. New Mexico was funded at a $5 million level, well under the $9 million that New Mexico should have received each fiscal year.
"I have been working on this problem for more than one year," Wilson said. "Last year, we were able to get a special appropriation. In this bill, we fixed the formula for New Mexico through 2003."
Skeen, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said "It's unfair to the people who can't afford insurance to be denied health care because of an accounting error. I'm pleased my colleagues in Congress have helped New Mexico resolve this problem."
Under federal law, states are entitled to allocations to pay for medical costs for low income patients. The allocation is based on the state's expenditures for low-income patients. When the Balanced Budget Act was passed, states were required to submit the amount of expenditures for fiscal year 1995. In 1998, Wilson was informed by the New Mexico Human Services Department, that due to a backlog of cases from 1989-1995, New Mexico's correct expenditure level was miscalculated, and the formula in the law was wrong, costing New Mexico's hospitals serving the poor some $4 million per year. Last year Wilson and Skeen were successful in garnering funding for the program on a one time basis. The Representatives had vowed to work together to fix the formula for good.
Hospitals in Wilson's First Congressional District receive almost 60% of the DSH funding that comes to New Mexico. Most of it is used by University Hospital.
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