Last week, Mr. Norquist wrote a letter to Georgia legislators that said the provider fee — which levies 1.45 percent of a Georgia hospital’s net patient revenue in order to raise federal matching dollars for its Medicaid program — is nothing more than a “bed tax” and goes against the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” which opposes all increases in income tax rates, according to the report.
Several hospitals, including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Grady Health System in Atlanta, are part of the group Coalition for Medicaid Payment Equity. In response to Norquist’s opposition to a renewal of the provider fee, the group said “the burden of funding Medicaid and caring for the most vulnerable Georgians would fall entirely on the backs of state and local taxpayers” if the Georgia legislature kills the provider tax, according to the report.
Georgia’s provider fee generates an extra $200 million per year in state revenue. Roughly 67 percent of that total goes toward the Medicaid budget, while the rest goes toward Medicaid reimbursements for hospitals. Georgia legislators will decide on the provider tax’s fate in next year’s general assembly.
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