California Congress Members Want Medicare Reimbursement Changes

California´s congressional delegation wants to stop a proposed change in Medicaid reimbursement that could cost

California hospitals 300 million dollars a year.

The Bush administration, like the Clinton White House before it, is trying to close a multi billion-dollar loophole in Medicaid rules.

Using an accounting gimmick, states pretend to spend billions of dollars for Medicaid to draw inflated matching money from Washington. In most cases, the extra money ends up in state coffers, available for just about anything.

But Californians in Congress say their state actually uses the money for health care, and more specifically, for emergency, trauma and children´s care services.

Forty seven of the state´s 52 House members signed a letter recently protesting the threatened reduction.