{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-burr-aim-to-close-health-care-law-loophole-with-bipartisan-bill", "McCaskill, Burr Aim to Close Health Care Law Loophole with Bipartisan Bill", "2017-11-20", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "McCaskill, Burr Aim to Close Health Care Law Loophole with Bipartisan Bill \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Senators\u2019 legislation would repeal provision that causes the majority of states to unfairly subsidize high wages at a handful of hospitals \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMonday, November 20, 2017\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON\u00a0\u2013 U.S. Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Richard Burr of North Carolina are teaming up on the bipartisan\u00a0Hospital Payment Fairness Act to fix a problematic provision in the\u00a0Affordable Care Act that causes the majority of states, like Missouri and North Carolina, to unfairly subsidize high wages at a handful of hospitals through Medicare reimbursements.\r\n\u201cI\u2019m the first to admit our healthcare law isn\u2019t perfect, and that it\u2019s in need of changes that\u2019ll make it more fair and affordable for Missourians,\u201d McCaskill said. \u201cThis bipartisan bill does exactly that and tips the scales back in favor of fairness for Missouri\u2019s hospitals and the Medicare payments that help make the care they provide possible.\u201d\r\n\u201cI\u2019m pleased to work with my colleague from Missouri to repeal this problematic provision of Obamacare. Today, this policy benefits a handful of states at the expense of others, pulling millions of dollars away from North Carolina\u2019s health care providers,\u201d Burr said. \u201cWith this repeal, states would be required to take responsibility for their own costs. I hope to see this bill garner even more bipartisan support and bring relief to negatively impacted states across the country.\u201d\r\nMedicare rules stipulate that a state\u2019s urban hospitals must be reimbursed for wages paid to doctors and staff at least as much as rural hospitals in that state are reimbursed. A section of the\u00a0Affordable Care Act\u00a0required Medicare reimbursements for hospital wages be drawn from a national pool of money, instead of from each state\u2019s allocation. As a result, any increase for one particular state means a decrease for other states.\r\nThis provision has proved problematic for many states since Massachusetts has only one rural hospital\u2014Nantucket Cottage\u2014which sets the floor for wage reimbursements in the state. While rural hospitals typically have lower wages than urban ones, wages at Nantucket Cottage are high because of the hospital's remote location and high cost of living. Therefore, the rural wage floor established on Nantucket has become a boon for hospitals in the rest of Massachusetts. Nantucket Cottage's rural designation has allowed the state's dozens of other hospitals to collectively reap hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicare reimbursements at the expense of other states, like Missouri and North Carolina.\r\nThe\u00a0Hospital Payment Fairness Act will sunset this section of the\u00a0Affordable Care Act, meaning states like Massachusetts will be responsible for bearing the burden of their own increased rural wage floor costs, instead of tapping the resources of other states. Roughly 40 states lose money under the current system, with Massachusetts receiving the lion\u2019s share of redistributed revenue of the states that have been positively affected.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-burr-aim-to-close-health-care-law-loophole-with-bipartisan-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9130821563303471, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}