Proposed Bush budget cuts would hit hospitals hard, administrators say

The federal government is proposing cuts to the Medicare and Medicaid programs, so now hospital organizations are lobbying to legislators and warning of cutbacks if the cuts are approved. Pennsylvania and New Jersey hospitals estimate that the proposed budget would reduce payments to hospitals in the two states by $8.4 billion over five years. Almost 50 percent of New Jersey's hospitals are already in the red, and the cuts would drive more hospitals in the state into bankruptcy, according to representatives from teh New Jersey Hospital Association.