CMS<\/a>, 50% of the funding will be split equally across all approved states, and 50% will be allocated based on factors including rural population size, number of rural healthcare facilities, the condition of local hospitals, and additional considerations that will be outlined in the official federal notice.<\/p>\nDr. Oz said the structure of the fund is intended to give states both stable baseline support and targeted dollars for their most vulnerable communities.<\/p>\n
Oz reiterated the goal of improving outcomes in communities where life expectancy has been declining.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Rob said was we are doing a lot of things to take up what we think is corruption. Most of it is actually fraud or waste or abuse of the systems that have been done on purpose, but it\u2019s really a reality. If you don\u2019t run a system well, you end up with abuses,” said Dr. Oz. “Rob said \u2018There\u2019s one place I will not compromise. I have to have support for rural America. They\u2019re falling behind. Their life expectancy is dropping. We are sick of living in areas where we know we can do better. We\u2019re all Americans. Your zip code should not be your health destiny.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Oz also responded to concerns raised nationally about how Medicaid reforms may impact vulnerable residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see the punishment happening to folks on Medicaid. The bigger question is: how do you hold the people who are responsible for taking care of people who are on Medicaid, our most vulnerable, how do you hold their feet to the fire? Oftentimes it slows down the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pike County, which has no hospital, highlighted the growing strain on EMS resources and long transport times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the only county government that puts $2.5 million into our EMS services. We pay municipalities on a match system where they put in $2.2 millions of it and we put in $2.2 because we need to have a robust ambulance service because of the fact that we have no hospital. Our ambulance, many times, is out on a service call between two to three hours,” said Pike County Commissioner, Matt Osterberg.<\/p>\n
Wayne Memorial Hospital officials also emphasized that decisions about federal funding should consider not just patient care, but the economic stability hospitals bring to the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it allowed us to do is to explain to them our specific position and describe the health ecosystem that exists in this area that not only supports the healthcare of the residents and the communities we serve, but also the economic benefit of the health systems and what they bring to bear,” said James Pettinato, CEO of Wayne Memorial Hospital. “So, it\u2019s not only about the health of the individuals but it\u2019s the health of the communities. I think the administration was very attentive to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rep. Bresnahan said he supports a two-year extension of Affordable Care Act premium subsidies while lawmakers work on a longer-term reform plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is we need to come up with more of a comprehensive plan. What that looks like, we\u2019ll go through the legislative process. But I don\u2019t feel proper in ripping the rug out, necessarily, from underneath our people that are already struggling economically and from an affordability perspective. So, I think we need to approach it twofold,\u201d said Congressman Rob Bresnahan.<\/p>\n
The roundtable took place as Rep. Bresnahan faces sharp criticism from political opponents and national Democratic groups, who argue his past votes in Congress undercut Medicaid protections and put rural hospitals at risk.<\/p>\n
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, who is running for Congress, issued a statement denouncing the event.<\/p>\n
Mayor Paige Cognetti:<\/p>\n
\u201cRob Bresnahan promised he would protect our health care but instead voted for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, ripping away care from tens of thousands of our neighbors and putting hospitals at risk of closure. As if his vote wasn\u2019t bad enough, he also sold off hundreds of thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of stock and bonds in Medicaid providers and Pennsylvania hospitals directly before his vote. No matter who parachutes into our community to appear alongside Rob, nothing can change the fact that he voted for deep and damaging cuts that are hurting our community while he looked out for his own bottom line. His cruel attempt to tout patchwork funding that represents only a fraction of the deep cuts he made is like an arsonist calling the fire department and expecting to be called a hero. We are tired of his empty rhetoric and broken promises that strip our community for parts while he uses his office to enrich himself.\u201d <\/p>\n
DCCC Spokesperson Eli Cousin:<\/p>\n
\u201cRob Bresnahan is a corrupt multi-millionaire day-trader who voted for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, and Dr. Oz is a snake-oil salesman who is overseeing Bresnahan\u2019s devastating cuts. Together they represent two of the most comically out-of-touch cartoon villains who have ever stepped foot in Northeastern Pennsylvania. NEPA deserves better than crooks and quacks who strip health care down to parts and cash in on the backs of hardworking people\u2019s suffering.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA CO. (WOLF) \u2014 Healthcare leaders from across northeastern Pennsylvania gathered in Scranton Friday morning for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-53485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-scranton","9":"tag-scranton-headlines","10":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}