The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) sent a letter last week to Connecticut legislators encouraging them to oppose Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s 2014 and 2015 fiscal year budget proposal, which cuts hospital funding by $550 million.
“If the proposed budget is accepted, hospitals will need to cut critical programs and services on which Connecticut communities rely,” the letter said. “People who work at hospitals will lose their jobs, and so will people in the community who rely on hospitals for their incomes.”
The bulk of the cuts comes from the state’s decision to continue the Hospital Provider Tax, without returning the revenue to the hospitals to cover uninsured patients, as originally proposed.
Ben Barnes, state budget director and secretary of the Office of Policy & Management (OPM), previously told the Business Journal that the cuts were being made earlier than needed but that the hospitals should be able to absorb the costs.
Since Malloy proposed the cuts Feb. 6, CHA officials have mobilized more than 70,000 residents to send emails, letters and phone calls to legislators to show their support for hospitals.
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