Just two days after Gov. M. Jodi Rell unveiled plans for a new $352 million patient tower and renovated academic and research facility at John Dempsey Hospital in Farmington, the project could already be in jeopardy.
A key part of the projects’ financing-$100 million in federal aid, which is earmarked in the Senate health care reform bill-could soon evaporate.
According to a report from the online news site Poltico.com, President Obama wants to eliminate narrow deals that were added into the health care bill that would benefit a single state.
Obama wants to strike out provisions requested by senators from more than five states, and he has asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to “look at removing” a $100 million hospital grant program requested by Sen. Chris Dodd, Politico reports. That money is not specifically allocated for Connecticut, but Dodd has said renovations and additions to John Dempsey Hospital would qualify for the funds.
Such earmarks or provisions in the health care bill have come under fire. Other deals that could be eliminated include $1.1 billion in extra Medicaid funding to Massachusetts and Vermont, Politico reports.
Dodd’s and Rell’s press offices did not return calls this morning seeking comment.
On Tuesday, Rell unveiled a hospital plan that promised to create more than 5,000 new jobs and allow for larger class sizes at the University of Connecticut’s School of Medicine and Dental Medicine.
To pay for the new hospital and related facilities, $100 million of the investment is expected to come from federal funds. If that money is eliminated from the health care reform bill, however, it’s not clear if other federal grants would be available to replace the funding.
UConn President Michael Hogan told lawmakers this morning that the state could tap philanthropists or other federal programs if those funds were to go away.
The rest of the money for the hospital would come from $227 million in state bonding and $25 million from already approved UConn 21st Century funding.
Rell’s support for the hospital marks a reversal in position from last year, when she declined to throw her political weight behind UConn’s plan to build a 250-bed, $475 million facility, arguing it was unaffordable.
Rell said she supports the latest plan because it has “a much lower state price tag,” among other reasons.
