Senate Democrats are demanding solutions over how the Trump administration plans to handle the $50 billion rural well being slush fund included within the One Huge Stunning Invoice Act (OBBBA) in gentle of reviews that the fund was made to purchase Republican votes.
In a letter to Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, a gaggle of 16 Senate Democrats led by Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted the agricultural well being fund as “wholly insufficient to plug the massive hole created by the Big, Ugly Betrayal,” however mentioned it was “critical” that CMS present readability and steerage.
“We are alarmed by reports suggesting these taxpayer funds are already promised to Republican members of Congress in exchange for their votes in support of the Big, Ugly Betrayal. In addition, the vague legislative language creating this fund will seemingly function as your personal fund to be distributed according to your political whims,” they wrote.
The Democrats cited further reporting that among the rural well being fund has been promised to areas in states like Pennsylvania that aren’t rural. The fund won’t make direct funds to rural hospitals, however will first go to states that should file “rural well being transformation plans” and obtain approval from Oz.
The federal authorities can take again any unobligated cash earlier than this system ends in 2030.
“The Big, Ugly Betrayal makes no meaningful investments in rural hospitals, rural health centers, and other rural health care providers, which have some of the most fragile operating margins in the nation, and often are the largest employers and economic engines of their communities,” their letter learn.
The Trump administration defended the agricultural well being fund this week, writing in a memo that the legislation “contains unprecedented levels of federal assistance to rural and other vulnerable hospitals.”
The Senate Democrats requested to know when CMS would offer states with steerage on what to incorporate of their functions, how a lot of the cash will go to rural well being care suppliers in addition to what the executive course of will seem like.
They moreover requested to know “what other states or districts have Trump Administration officials already promised funding from the rural health slush fund to?”
Democratic senators who signed the letter embrace Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.), Angela Alsobrooks (Md.), Edward Markey (Mass.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Dick Durbin (Sick.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) Alex Padilla (Calif.), Tina Smith (Minn.) Andy Kim (N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
The Hill has reached out to HHS for remark.
