As the Malloy administration and legislative leaders attempt to close the state’s projected budget gap, Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) President and CEO Jennifer Jackson warned against possible funding reductions to health care providers.
Jackson said the current deficit mitigation plan would include $114 million in funding cuts to hospitals over the next six months, which she said would “result in lost jobs and elimination of critical community programs and services.”
“It is our expectation that hospitals will do all they can to preserve services and jobs, but cuts of this magnitude cannot be absorbed simply through more budget tightening such as delayed investment in equipment and technology,” Jackson said in a Dec. 18 statement.
Based on the latest projections by state Comptroller Kevin Lembo and the state Office of Policy and Management, Connecticut is facing a projected budget shortfall for the 2013 fiscal year – which ends June 30, 2013 – of between $365 and $415 million.
