WMC joins list of hospital assessment supporters
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business lobby, has lent its support to the 0.7 percent assessment on state hospital revenues.
"Current underfunding of Medicaid is driving up health care costs for employers," WMC vice president of government relations James A. Buchen said today in a statement. "Hospitals have not seen Medicaid reimbursement increases in 13 years and that has led to a hidden health care tax on employers as costs get shifted to private health care payers."
WMC originally opposed the assessment when Gov. Jim Doyle first proposed it as part of his 2007-09 budget package last year. The assessment is supported by Democrats in the Legislature, but was removed in final negotiations as the budget was approved in October.
Doyle also included the assessment in his budget repair bill introduced last week. He says it will bring $450 million in federal revenues back to the state over the biennium. Most of the federal cash will go toward raising reimbursement rates for hospitals that treat Medicaid patients, but $125 million could be used to help balance the state's general fund, Doyle said.
Republicans have called the proposal a tax that will hike the cost of health care for everyone. The assessment was removed in the budget repair bill passed by the Republican-controlled Assembly Wednesday.
WMC is the second large conservative-leaning organization to back the hospital assessment this week. The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce voiced its support for the plan on Wednesday. See the MMAC statement here.
Labels: Budget_Repair_Bill, Hospital_Assessment
