Senators Feinstein, Lincoln and 18 Others Ask Senator Daschle to Include Disproportionate Share Hospital Provisions in Medicare Provider Legislation
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September 17, 2002

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and 18 of their Senate colleagues have urged Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) to include provisions to restore funding to hospitals that treat a disproportionate share of patients who are uninsured or are only covered by Medicaid. The Senators urged that the provisions be included in any legislation before the Senate that address Medicare provider issues.

In a letter to Senator Daschle, the Senators wrote: "We are writing to express our deep concern about the expiration of the Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) provision included in the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (BIPA). This provision provided crucial, but temporary relief, from the deep reductions in State Medicaid allotments that were contained in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA). With the BIPA provision, Congress recognized that the funding cuts in the BBA could cripple health care safety net services throughout our nation. Without immediate legislative action, however, this provision will expire on October 1, 2002.

We are committed to preventing these devastating cuts. We want to see enactment of two bills that address the adequacy of DSH, one of our nation's major sources of care for the uninsured and under-insured. The Medicaid Safety Net Hospital Continued Preservation Act (S. 572) sponsored by Senator Bob Graham (D-FL) would eliminate the scheduled Fiscal Year 2003 drop-off in federal Medicaid DSH funding and permit funding for each State's DSH program to grow with inflation. Also important, the Medicaid Safety Net Hospital Improvement Act (S. 776) sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) would permit states with historically small DSH programs to increase their federal DSH allotments to 3 percent of a State's Medicaid spending.

It is imperative that these bills are included in any Medicare provider legislation considered this year. It would be difficult to support any Medicare provider legislation in the Senate this year that does not include these crucial Medicaid bills. Medicaid DSH is a key source of support for low-income care in this country, and helps to sustain critical community services like high-risk neonatal care, trauma and burn centers, and specialty children's care. "

The letter was also signed by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Mark Dayton (D-MN), Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Patty Murray (D-WA), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), John Kerry (D-MA), Fritz Hollings (D-SC), Carl Levin (D-MI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Max Cleland (D-GA), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Zell Miller (D-GA), Bill Nelson (D-FL).

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