MD hospitals push for insurers to pay Medicare and Medicaid cost shift

A proposal by the Maryland Hospital Association circulated to policymakers in recent weeks details a plan to shift costs to private payers by raising the rates they pay hospitals by 7 percent over three years while giving sharp discounts to the Medicare program for seniors and the Medicaid program for the poor. Once phased in, the plan would raise charges for commercial insurers and their customers by about $350 million a year and increase their price for a typical hospital admission by $900—in addition to underlying healthcare inflation.