Robert Weygand: “One of the things we have just seen come out of HCFA is that the rate of reimbursement that we have right now with this…”

“One of the things we have just seen come out of HCFA is that the rate of reimbursement that we have right now with this cut, HCFA and the people have acknowledged within Medicare that they are receiving far less, 93 percent actually is what they are receiving in terms of what they should be receiving. They are only receiving 93 cents on the dollar minimum. In many cases, they are cutting more. The other matter is that the amount of surplus that we have seen generated from these massive cuts far exceeds what was estimated by CBO and everybody else. We are in fact cutting a system so drastically so that we can provide tax cuts to other people. That is the terrible shame that we have before us. We are taking people that are in dire need and we are cutting them to provide tax cuts to other people. Ironically, this provision in the Balanced Budget Act is the biggest unfunded mandate on States that we have ever seen. This will be devastating to States if they have to pick up an increased cost of Medicaid to provide for long-term care.”