Engel Introduces Bill to Repeal Cuts to Medicaid DSH Payments

  Representative Eliot L. Engel, a top member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today introduced the Patient Access Protection Act, legislation that would repeal mandated cuts to Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments.

Medicaid DSH payments sustain safety-net hospitals that serve a disproportionate number of low-income and uninsured patients. In treating those who have nowhere else to turn, these hospitals incur uncompensated costs. Medicaid DSH payments allow these hospitals to continue serving communities in dire need of access to care, but current federal law mandates severe cuts to DSH payments, which would jeopardize their ability to do so.

“Just a few weeks ago I led 300 of my colleagues in a bipartisan letter to House leadership calling for a delay to scheduled cuts in Medicaid DSH payments. But that’s still only a band-aid. What we need is a full repeal of these cuts codified into law,” Engel said. “Safety-net hospitals rely on Medicaid DSH payments to provide critical care to millions of people across the country. These scheduled cuts would have a devastating impact on our communities and we need to do everything we can to ensure they never go into effect.”