AP: Hospitals, Home Health Care Workers Protest Cuts
Alex
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5/3/2007
By TIM MARTIN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) Michigan health care providers on Thursday urged lawmakers to come up with a solution to avoid Medicaid payment cuts scheduled to take effect June 1.
Home health care workers also rallied in Lansing, protesting suggested budget cuts that would trim their wages and hours.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm this week told hospitals and doctors that they will get 6 percent less for treating low-income or disabled patients unless lawmakers quickly approve a tax increase or come up with a different way to cover the costs. She blamed the possible cuts, similar to those planned for schools, on legislative inaction.
Michigan Republican Party chairman Saul Anuzis this week said Granholm is "extorting Michigans most vulnerable citizens as a way to lobby for unnecessary tax increases."
At a Capitol press conference, health care providers said thousands of Michigan children, the elderly and disabled could have their quality of care reduced if the Medicaid cuts take effect.
"Our message is this is a matter of life and death," said Spencer Johnson, president of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, which represents the state's 146 nonprofit hospitals.
About one in seven Michigan residents is covered by Medicaid. Health care providers fear more doctors will stop seeing Medicaid patients because they lose money on reimbursement rates.
Health care providers said the Medicaid cuts could lead to layoffs at hospitals and longer waits in emergency rooms and clinics.
Home health care workers marched through downtown Lansing and then filed into a state Senate committee hearing.
Earlier this year, the Republican-led Senate voted to save more than $15 million by reducing the wages and hours for privately-contracted home health workers who care for 40,000-plus low-income seniors and the disabled. The Senate plan would reduce wages for home care workers, already among the lowest-paid in the mental health system, to $7 per hour. It also would eliminate a 2-percent wage increase passed last year by the Michigan Legislature.
Beverly Yancey, a home health care worker from Detroit, worried the cuts would force more people out of the business and hurt the quality of care for patients.
"Our clients need more time and more care," she said. "This would only make it worse."
Democrats generally oppose the plan and Granholm likely would veto the bill if it ever reached her desk.
But it's still a topic of discussion as state leaders try to eliminate a budget deficit for this fiscal year that currently is estimated at about $700 million.
Granholm wants to raise taxes to avoid the health care and school funding cuts. Republicans have opposed a tax increase, including Granholm's stalled 2 percent tax on services.
House Democrats have voted to close a few of what they call tax loopholes, but they haven't endorsed a specific general tax increase, either.
By TIM MARTIN
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) Michigan health care providers on Thursday urged lawmakers to come up with a solution to avoid Medicaid payment cuts scheduled to take effect June 1.
Home health care workers also rallied in Lansing, protesting suggested budget cuts that would trim their wages and hours.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm this week told hospitals and doctors that they will get 6 percent less for treating low-income or disabled patients unless lawmakers quickly approve a tax increase or come up with a different way to cover the costs. She blamed the possible cuts, similar to those planned for schools, on legislative inaction.
Michigan Republican Party chairman Saul Anuzis this week said Granholm is "extorting Michigans most vulnerable citizens as a way to lobby for unnecessary tax increases."
At a Capitol press conference, health care providers said thousands of Michigan children, the elderly and disabled could have their quality of care reduced if the Medicaid cuts take effect.
"Our message is this is a matter of life and death," said Spencer Johnson, president of the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, which represents the state's 146 nonprofit hospitals.
About one in seven Michigan residents is covered by Medicaid. Health care providers fear more doctors will stop seeing Medicaid patients because they lose money on reimbursement rates.
Health care providers said the Medicaid cuts could lead to layoffs at hospitals and longer waits in emergency rooms and clinics.
Home health care workers marched through downtown Lansing and then filed into a state Senate committee hearing.
Earlier this year, the Republican-led Senate voted to save more than $15 million by reducing the wages and hours for privately-contracted home health workers who care for 40,000-plus low-income seniors and the disabled. The Senate plan would reduce wages for home care workers, already among the lowest-paid in the mental health system, to $7 per hour. It also would eliminate a 2-percent wage increase passed last year by the Michigan Legislature.
Beverly Yancey, a home health care worker from Detroit, worried the cuts would force more people out of the business and hurt the quality of care for patients.
"Our clients need more time and more care," she said. "This would only make it worse."
Democrats generally oppose the plan and Granholm likely would veto the bill if it ever reached her desk.
But it's still a topic of discussion as state leaders try to eliminate a budget deficit for this fiscal year that currently is estimated at about $700 million.
Granholm wants to raise taxes to avoid the health care and school funding cuts. Republicans have opposed a tax increase, including Granholm's stalled 2 percent tax on services.
House Democrats have voted to close a few of what they call tax loopholes, but they haven't endorsed a specific general tax increase, either.
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