LETTERS: HOSPITALS SAY MEDICARE CUTS WOULD HURT

To the editor:

For weeks members of the House and Senate have been debating the best ways to balance the budget and reduce the deficit. Now it seems the budget discussions are focusing on just how much to cut from the Medicare and Medicaid budgets.

In the 8th Congressional District, proposed Medicare cuts could leave a $948 shortfall for each senior hospitalized. If the hospitals in the district continue to care for the nearly 30,500 Medicare inpatients, as they did last year, these hospitals would lose $30 million simply for caring for the elderly. Statewide, Missouri hospitals' Medicare losses would total approximately $428 million, or nearly $1.2 million each day.

These proposed cuts are not the first that hospitals and health systems have faced. Since 1985, the Medicare budget has been cut each year. Hospitals have worked to incorporate these cuts without impacting the amount and kind of care provided to Medicare recipients. However, this newest round of cuts will impact more than just health-care providers. Now individuals will feel the pinch.

During the continuing budget discussions, the hospitals and health systems of Missouri ask that each health-care consumer become an active participant in these negotiations. Contact your local legislators and urge them to consider alternatives to the deep Medicare and Medicaid cuts being discussed. Let's take a stand against arbitrary budget cuts that jeopardize the health and lives of our family members and our neighbors.

CHARLES L. BOWMAN, President

Missouri Hospital Association

Jefferson City