Pa. lawmakers fight on for area hospitals’ Medicare payments

SCRANTON – Legislation to temporarily extend higher Medicare reimbursement rates for area hospitals is pending, but the major health care reform under way on Capitol Hill could provide a permanent fix to the problem.

At Mercy Hospital, members of the Northeastern Pennsylvania’s federal legislative delegation Monday briefed health care officials on the progress.

Legislation in the House of Representatives would extend payments under the Medicare Wage Index Reclassification for two years, while the Senate’s extension would be for a year, he said.

Specter and others have succeeded in getting more than $200 million for hospitals during the past 10 years to ensure payments for services are in line with those paid to hospitals in larger metropolitan areas.

The more than $5 million provided to Mercy under the last extension that ended on Sept. 30, 2009, was the difference between the hospital operating in the black as opposed to the red, Specter said.

The money enables hospitals to pay competitive wages, added Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton.

“It’s critically important because we have a right to expect quality health care in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” Casey said.

The least the lawmakers can do is get another extension and at best reach a permanent solution, he said.

The strongest words came from U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, who said the issue should have been taken care of in the massive health care reform effort undertaken by lawmakers.

Just within his congressional district, hospitals annually receive approximately $36 million in higher Medicare payments, said Kanjorski.

He took issue with the administration of President Barack Obama and with his party over the handling of the reform and explaining it to the public.

“This bill needed a conference. It didn’t need a ping-pong,” he said. “The American people are totally ill informed.”

He proposed that lawmakers should take a few weeks to discuss the pertinent issues so the public can understand the reform and to dispel any misconceptions about what it entails.

“I’m still looking for that death panel because I think it’s going to have five members,” he said. “And since we have two senators and one congressman, I want to make sure that that panel is split up correctly. I think Bob and Arlen only get four appointments and I get at least one.”

Then he immediately explained his comments. “That’s supposed to be facetious. Please take that as humor. I know the press is here,” he said.