LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — University of Nebraska Medical Center administrators say the federal health care law will cost its two Omaha hospitals millions in aid unless Medicaid coverage is expanded.
Cory Shaw, chief executive officer of UNMC Physicians, says the law will eliminate federal payments to the Nebraska Medical Center and the Children's Hospital and Medical Center. Both qualify for special aid because of care they provide to patients who are on Medicaid or uninsured.
Shaw says the payments are phased out under the health care law, and will cost the hospitals nearly $11 million a year starting in 2014.
UNMC College of Medicine Dean Bradley Britigan says the cuts would hit the medical school because of nearly $60 million annually it gets from the hospitals.
Medicaid expansion would reduce the hospitals' uncompensated care.
