Nebraska hospitals say Senate bill’s proposed Medicaid cuts put key services at risk

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Nebraska hospitals say Medicaid cuts included in the Senate Finance Committee’s version of President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” are an urgent matter.

“Pretty soon they want to get it to the president’s desk, some say by July 4th,” said Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital Association. “So we are really in a crunch time here.”

The bill is still in committee and would need to be voted on by the full senate.

The proposal would require parents with children ages 15 and up to work or go to school for at least 80 hours a month to keep their benefits.

The cuts to the program are even steeper than those in the House version of the bill.

Hospitals said that will affect state funding, which will reduce Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and result in a loss of programming.

Nordquist said when services shut down, that doesn’t just affect Medicaid patients.

“It doesn’t matter if you have the best commercial insurance or you’re uninsured,” he said. “No one has access to that service in the community anymore.”

Rural hospitals said they would be most affected.

“For our rural communities, if you were to see a significant cut in those services or reimbursement of those services, you will just see an overall loss of services completely,” said the president of the Nebraska Rural Health Association, Jed Hansen.

Hansen urged Nebraskans to reach out to their senators because what they hear will influence how they vote.

“We can provide information, we can provide stories, but they really do count on hearing from their constituents,” he said.