A group of 16 Democratic senators led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) accused Republicans of using the $50 billion rural health program to buy votes for President Trump’s sweeping tax and spending package.
The money is meant to ease the burden of the law’s Medicaid cuts on rural hospitals. It helped assuage concerns of key senators, including Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
The Democrats asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for clarity and guidance on the fund in a letter sent Friday while also bashing it as a “wholly insufficient to plug the massive hole created by the Big, Ugly Betrayal.”
The law was paid for in large part with about $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts, the largest since the program’s creation.
“We are alarmed by reports suggesting these taxpayer funds are already promised to Republican members of Congress in exchange for their votes in support of the Big, Ugly Betrayal,” the letter reads. “In addition, the vague legislative language creating this fund will seemingly function as your personal fund to be distributed according to your political whims.”
The fund will not make direct payments to rural hospitals. Instead, $25 billion will go to all states after they file “rural health transformation plans” which then must be approved by CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz.
CMS must make a decision on approving the plans by the end of the year.
Read more from The Hill’s Joseph Choi here.
