Cash-strapped rural Texas hospitals have been closing at an alarming rate, but health care advocates are warning that the trend likely will accelerate under a proposed rule change for federal Medicaid funding that’s also forecast to deal big financial blows to hospitals in urban areas like Austin.
Statewide, the Texas Hospital Association estimates that up to $11 billion in annual federal matching funds for Medicaid, the health insurance program for poor people, could be in jeopardy if the rule goes into effect.
“This is as scary as anything we have dealt with in my 20 or so years in rural health care,” said John Henderson, president of the Texas Organization of Rural & Community Hospitals.
Source: Proposed Medicaid change could hurt Texas hospitals, health advocates say / Statesman