Over the next 10 years, the Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) estimates that the federal sequestration in Washington, D.C. will cost hospitals in the state $1 billion in Medicare payments if the required 2 percent across-the-board cuts mandated by Congress takes effect as planned March 1.
The 2 percent cut amounts to $2 million a week beginning March 1 from a program that already pays far less than costs for services provided to seniors.
The new cuts, which also would affect Wisconsin physicians and nursing homes, are on top of the mandatory reductions already included in the health reform law, which WHA estimates will reduce hospital Medicare payments by $2.6 billion over the next decade. Additionally, hospital Medicare cuts were used to fund two recent short-term “fixes” to the broken-down physician Medicare payment system. Those cuts amount to about $200 million over the next few years.
According to a report released by the American Hospital Association (AHA), the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Nurses Association (ANA), in addition to the economic losses, Wisconsin could stand to lose nearly 15,000 jobs in the health care sector over the next nine years of the sequester. Health care comprises more than 13 percent of the total non-farm workforce in Wisconsin, or more than 300,000 jobs.
“The impact of these new cuts will be felt almost immediately in every community in Wisconsin,” according to WHA president Steve Brenton. ““The 2 percent sequester, on top of the cuts already baked into the health reform law, will have damaging consequences to Wisconsin’s high-quality, high-value health care delivery system.”
Brenton acknowledged the need for shared sacrifice across all sectors of the nation’s economy in order to address growing federal budget deficit concerns. But as Medicare reductions keep mounting and uncompensated care levels continue to grow, he believes that hospital expense reductions forced by yet another round of cuts will take a toll on health care employment, future capital spending and subsidized community programs.
“High performing health care providers in states like ours are going to be forced to reassess services, programs and employment needs which could limit access to care and diminish Wisconsin’s ability to attract business growth,” according to Brenton. “The stalemate in Washington will have consequences right here in Wisconsin.”
