Hospitals urge lawmakers to give program money
The West Virginia Hospital Association says the best solution is to urge the state to put more money into the Medicaid budget.
"Medicaid is a vital safety net to the health and economy of West Virginia," said Tony Gregory, vice president for legislative affairs. "Medicaid has such an intricate relationship with hospitals ... it's important we maintain the integrity of Medicaid."
Gregory told a group of about 20 legislators and health-care executives Thursday that preserving and increasing Medicaid funding is among hospitals' top concerns for the legislative session that begins in January.
The meeting was held at Monongalia General Hospital. Six local legislators attended, as well as executives from Mon General Hospital, West Virginia United Health Systems, WVU Hospitals and University Health Center.
The state can decide how well Medicaid is funded, he said. For every $1 the state pays for its residents' Medicaid care, the federal government puts in $3.
Keeping Medicaid funds flowing is important to the health of the state because more than 20 percent — more than 300,000 — of the state's 1.8 million people are on Medicaid, he said. That's a high percentage, but it's not a surprising figure since West Virginia has unusually high numbers of elderly, sick and poor people — exactly the people Medicaid serves.
Putting more of the state's money into Medicaid pays off, he said.
When a Medicaid program is eliminated, patients still need to get health care, so hospitals end up paying for their care, he said.
In 2004, West Virginia hospitals lost more than $55 million caring for Medicaid patients, Gregory said.
And that's after they were reimbursed by the state Medicaid program for the care they gave.
To make up for the losses suffered from Medicaid and Public Employees' Insurance Agency being underfunded, hospitals must make private insurance companies pay more for health-care services, Gregory said.
It's called "cost shifting," and it means all people with insurance — employers and employees — end up paying more for their own health care.
Bruce McClymonds, CEO of WVU Hospitals, explained how cost shifting affects private companies. "We're charging our commercial insurers about 60 percent more than it costs to care for their patients," he said.
Keeping Medicaid funding flow- ing is important to the state's economy, because hospitals are among the major employers in the state, employing more than 36,000 full-time workers, contributing $1.4 billion in payroll to the state's economy, Gregory said.
Twelve percent of the state's workforce is employed in health care, he said.
Delegate Cindy Frich said north-central West Virginia is especially reliant on health care for its economy. "An awful lot of jobs in this community are healthcare related — hospitals, home health-care providers, so it's very important for people to understand the relationship of Medicaid to their community," she said.
As a legislator, she said she has continued to urge other legislators to funnel more money toward Medicaid spending.
For example, during a recent special legislative session, she said she and some other delegates recommended that $2 million earmarked for a building and a dirt bike track be diverted to Medicaid.
That $2 million would have become $8 million more to spend on Medicaid once the federal match came in.
The idea did not pass, she said.
Delegate Charlene Marshall, D-Monongalia, said it's important that legislators "stay in contact with administrators of hospitals. We can't always do everything that they want us to do, but we can work together."
She said keeping health-care costs down starts with diagnosing diseases earlier.
For example, programs such as the Kidney Early Intervention Program helps identify potential for kidney disease before it progresses. "If we work with professionals to cut down the prevalence of disease in some areas, it is going to come back in decreased healthcare costs," she said.