Sen. Witkos Opposes Hospital Budget Cuts

Senate & House Republicans are standing in support of Connecticut hospitals as they oppose Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s $103 million in new budget cuts, including $63.4 million in reduced Medicaid payments to hospitals. The result of these cuts would increase hospitals’ tax liability to the state by over $267 million between fiscal year 2015 and fiscal year 2016, raising their state tax burden to almost $500 million annually.

Republican lawmakers are calling for a special session to reject the governor’s proposed cuts and make broad changes to the state budget.

“Connecticut hospitals have said that these cuts create a crisis situation and directly threaten care and services,” said Sen. Kevin Witkos (R-Canton), Senate Minority Leader Pro Tempore. “We should not be putting more burdens onto patients, onto the most vulnerable who need the support and services our hospitals provide. We need to take action to address the obvious problems within the budget, but unilateral cuts with no input from the legislature or the constituents we represent is not productive. It shows a lack of long term thinking and strategic planning to actually put Connecticut on better footing to avoid these problems in the future. Our hospitals have been hit far too many times in this budget. On top of that, these new cuts are potentially deadly blows to community health care across the state.”

The governor’s cuts include a more than a $20 million cut for Hartford Hospital and $4.4 million from Charlotte Hungerford Hospital. Full details about all cuts are available via the Office of Fiscal Analysis.