Preliminary New Jersey Hospital Charity Care Budget Announced for FY 2011

The Good Samaritan (after Delacroix), Van Gogh, 1890

New Jersey’s Department of Health and Senior Services released its preliminary data on charity care dollars for hospitals for Fiscal Year 2011: $665 million. Fiscal Year 2010’s total budget for such was $660 million, but $25 million of that was cut as part of mid-year budget reductions. If one counts the restoration of the $25 million cut prior, the increase amounts to $85 million.

In a press release announcing the preliminary data, Health and Senior Services Commissioner Dr. Poonam Alaigh said, “This funding increase clearly demonstrates Gov. Chris Christie’s commitment to maintain and strengthen the health care safety net for New Jersey’s most vulnerable residents when they need it most. Despite the state’s current fiscal crisis, the Governor has made charity care a priority.”

Some of the gains were wrought through the leveraging of increased assessments against hospitals for increased federal matching funds. According to the Daily Record:

To get the extra cash, Christie proposes to lift a cap that had limited a tax paid by hospitals; doing so increases the amount of federal matching funds the state receives.

In other words: To get the extra funds into the hospital system, hospitals have to pay $38.7 million in extra assessments. That puts hospitals as a whole $21.3 million ahead of the game — although extra dollars don’t necessarily flow back to the hospitals paying more.

Also according to the Daily Record, the reconfiguration and redistribution will leave 41 hospitals with more money, and 32 with less. The chart below lays out those details.

Common Denominator in Failed State Health Reform: Budget Woes

Photo by weddingssc1 via flickr.com

Despite the looming recession, it appears Washington plans to charge forward with health reform.  Many posts on our site cover the President’s ambitious agenda.

But the states may be a different story.  A round up of failed– or at least disappointing– health reform state initiatives over the past two weeks shows a consistent factor in the process: budget woes.  Many states have shown themselves to be not willing to overlook state budget crises in favor of immediate health reform.

Case in point: Washington State.  The state’s House approved a bill last week that would remove thousands of beneficiaries from basic state health care.  State officials would have authority to remove residents receiving separate benefits from the state’s Department of Social and Health Services, as well as discretionary removal of residents based on income, perceived access to private insurance, and how long a particular resident has received basic state health care.  The bill, according to the AP/Seatle Post-Intelligender, is likely to save the state $250 million (of the $9 billion annual budget gap that the state hopes to close).  The proposal is currently awaiting a vote in the state Senate.

Washington also recently imposed a new rule that would cut Medicaid reimbursements for brand-name prescription drugs– an intended savings of $1 million dollars a month.  However, two weeks ago the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that a federal judge imposed a ban on enforcement of the new measure over concerns that it would restrict access to prescription drugs.  A hearing on May 18^th will determine whether the ban will be lifted or stayed.  Read more