The state’s budget director has informed the state’s hospitals they will not be receiving additional supplemental payments because of the ongoing budget issues. Hospitals say the nonpayments amount to a $140 million tax on them.
Budget director Ben Barnes said, due to the significant drop in state revenues, he is not optimistic the state will be able to make any further payments this fiscal year. Currently Connecticut is projected to have a $219 million deficit.
Jennifer Jackson, CEO of the Connecticut Hospital Association, said the state’s actions are breaking the healthcare system and increasing patient costs. She said, “When the hospital tax was established in 2012, the promise was that the state would return the money it taxed hospitals, and hospitals would be made whole. Four short years later, hospitals are paying $556 million per year and getting virtually nothing back.”
Her sentiments are being shared by Republican legislative leaders. House Minority Leader Themis Klarides (R-Derby) said hospitals had been assured by the state Department of Social Services it was in the process of applying for reimbursements as they have for the past five years from the federal government. She said the decision to withhold millions in funding for hospitals could lead to further layoffs and a reduction in services.
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano (R-North Haven) said Malloy and his administration are skirting a core responsibility of government to care for those most in need.
“The hospital tax was supposed to be a way for the state to gain more federal funding for hospitals. It never should have been used as a slush fund for the state,” Fasano said.
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