On Nov. 15, the U.S. Senate voted 87-11 to continue funding the federal government at current levels through early 2024. This happened a day after the U.S. House voted 336-95 to do the same. The legislation now goes to President Joe Biden's desk where he is expected to sign it prior to the Nov. 17 funding deadline. The continuing resolution splits up funding for the federal government so that a portion is extended through Jan. 19, 2024, with the rest funded through Feb. 2.
What this means for health care is that it is highly unlikely that any omnibus package with changes in funding for health care programs (such as site-neutral payment cuts to hospitals) will come up before these deadlines in January or February.
WHA has continued to express concerns about site-neutral cuts to hospitals that Congress has passed through different committees in the U.S. House and Senate in different health care packages. Some members of Congress have said they need the budget savings from these site-neutral payment policies to pay for other health care priorities like funding community health centers or staving off cuts to the federal Disproportionate Share Hospital caps.
WHA continues to advocate, along with other hospital groups, against these cuts. Hospitals are still dealing with extremely high-cost increases given persistent inflation, the workforce shortage, and skyrocketing prescription drug cost increases and should not be expected to bear the brunt of these cuts at a time like this. Additionally, Congress has shown that there are other funding sources that would not rely on cuts to hospitals to fund these other priorities.
Contact WHA Vice President of Federal and State Relations Jon Hoelter with questions.