Senate Republican leadership is considering establishing a fund for rural hospitals to win over holdouts of the one "big, beautiful bill."
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., have expressed concern about how scaling back the Medicaid provider tax could harm rural hospitals in their states.
"There's a number of different things, but they have to do something," Hawley told Politico. "They cannot defund rural hospitals."
Collins said she would like to see a provider relief fund for rural homes, nursing homes, and community health centers, Politico said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said discussions remain underway.
In a version proposed by the Senate Finance Committee, the budget bill would cut the amount of money a state can tax a healthcare provider from 6% of patient revenue to 3.5%. The cut would apply only to states that have expanded Medicaid offerings under the Affordable Care Act and would exempt nursing homes, Politico reported.
The bill would freeze nonexpansion states' provider tax rates in place, while the bill passed by the House had no cuts and installed the freeze to every state, Politico said.
Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., said it is important to preserve rural hospitals.
"When we start really hurting our rural hospitals — there are a lot of folks here who don't know what a rural hospital is," Justice said to Politico. "But it is the lifeblood of that community."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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