House Bill 1617

Little Xavier came into the world three months too soon. He's now 15 months old and he's been in and out of hospitals his whole life.<br/><br/>Maggy Krepps: "he has cerebal palsy he's deaf

Saturday, May 21st 2005, 6:43 pm

By: News On 6

Little Xavier came into the world three months too soon. He's now 15 months old and he's been in and out of hospitals his whole life.

Maggy Krepps: "he has cerebal palsy he's deaf he wears hearing aids he asthma we've been in st francis the last four times for pneumonia we've been here for a week."

Maggy Krepps says once again the folks here at Saint Francis have nursed her little one back to health.But it wouldn't have been possible without help from Medicaid.

Maggy Krepps: we couldnt do it without medicaid... medicaid is his lifeline... "

Almost half of the children that come through these doors are on Medicaid. But the system that helps needy children and disabled Oklahomans is not fully reimbursing the doctors who provide the care.

Tom Neff: "Currently they get 72 cents on the dollar for every Medicaid patient that they see and you can't keep a business afloat with those types of numbers."

The Oklahoma Hospital Association and some state lawmakers think they might have a solution. Its called House Bill 1617 its a self-imposed fee on hospitals. Basically all of the hospitals in the state would set aside one percent of their total revenues.That 93 million dollars buys the state into a federal matching program that would net Medicaid close to $300,000,000. Speaker of the House Todd Hiett says house bill 1617 amounts to a new tax.

Speaker of the House Todd Hiett: â€œwe have concerns that this 93 million dollar tax will be passed on to patients. And we also have concerns that the federal match that's being proposed would in fact be available.â€

Tom Neff: â€œthis is not a new tax on the general population this is not a tax on hospitals or doctors this is a fee that the hospitals willingly give up to get into the federal matching program."

Democratic lawmaker Lucky Lamons says if the matching federal dollars aren't there all of the money raised by the fee will go back to the hospitals. He also says if the state doesn't fix the Medicaid problem they might be forced to cutback on services.

Democratic lawmaker Lucky Lamons: â€œthere is no way the state of oklahoma can lose except if we dont pass this and if we dont pass it 65-thousand poor elderly and children will have no health care.â€

The fight over this bill is heating up. State democrats say they will stall key budget bills, until they can bring House Bill 1617 to a vote. If that happens, state government might not have the money it needs to operate, forcing a shutdown.