Andre Carson: “certainly my heartfelt thanks go to my colleague the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) for bringing this important…”

“certainly my heartfelt thanks go to my colleague the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) for bringing this important issue to the attention of the United States Congress. The gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) himself is the beneficiary of quality health insurance, yet he is standing here tonight on behalf of the millions of Americans who do not have adequate insurance, who are either under-insured or have no insurance, and the $6 billion that this bill spends on vouchers certainly could be put to better use. Let me explain very briefly about the Nation's DSH hospitals that need help right now. Let me use my own hospital as an example. Wishard Memorial Hospital, located in Indianapolis, is a Disproportionate Share Hospital and the fifth largest provider of outpatient indigent care nationwide. It is 144 years old and had some 850,000 patient visits in 2002, and that included a 19-percent increase over the prior year for indigent care. Nine out of every ten of Wishard's patients receive health care through Medicaid or Medicare or are completely uninsured. Wishard collects, on average, 10 cents on the dollar from people who have no insurance. As a result, Wishard has one of the lowest private pay rates in the country. This fact makes it almost completely dependent upon the funding that it receives from the Disproportionate Share Hospital formula, leaving the hospital with virtually no means to make up for the financial losses.”