On the recordNovember 17, 2011
And I thank the gentlelady from North Carolina for being here this evening. I would just like to continue on because of my concern, and I know my colleagues have such concerns, about the health and the well-being of their hospitals. As I mentioned earlier, they are the largest employer in my district. We refer to it as ``eds and meds.'' We have a large university there and some colleges, but we also have five hospitals in my district. So our reliance for our local economy and for our State economy is just so very important. I want to talk a little more about what this health care law is going to do to Medicare and do to our hospitals. There is $112 billion in reduced market basket updates to hospitals. There is a $36 billion reduction to Medicare and Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments. Now, Mr. Speaker, disproportionate share may sound a little confusing. I'm going to explain what that is. In a district such as mine, we have hospitals that have missions. And I'm sure across the country, many hospitals have missions. They want to make sure that the indigent population, folks who can't afford insurance, who are self- pays or maybe are on Medicaid, that they have access to quality services. So the government says to these hospitals, we understand that Medicaid reimbursements or self-pay patients will not cover your services. So what we're going to do is, we're going to try to make you whole with this disproportionate share. Mr.…
