New Provider Tax Rule to Halve Medicaid Losses for Wisconsin Hospitals

New provider tax rule to halve Medicaid losses for Wisconsin hospitals

Wisconsin hospital leaders said that a new CMS provider tax rule will halve the state's $1.3 billion annual loss from serving Medicaid patients by increasing reimbursement rates from 1.8% to 6%.

Hospital leaders, Rep. Van Orden highlight Wisconsin Medicaid money

An increase in Medicaid funding for Wisconsin was celebrated in La Crosse, with an event at Emplify Health on Monday. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently endorsed a $1billion increase in Medicaid funds for the state, above last year’s total. The Medicaid funding comes from what was formerly called The One Big Beautiful Bill, but Republicans renamed it to the Working Families Tax Cuts program. The state’s share comes to $9.6 bi…

Medicaid Indirect Hold Harmless Threshold Proposed Rule Summary

On July 23, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published in the Federal Register (91 FR 46562) a proposed rule to revise standards for determining whether an indirect hold harmless arrangement exists for a health care-related tax (sometimes referred to as a provider tax). The rule would implement section 71115 of P.L. 119-21, herein referred to as the “Working Families Tax Cut (WFTC) legislation,” which established new indi…

Medicaid Work Rule Leaves Homeless People in the Cold

Tywon Pugh has seizures that make it hard to find and keep a job. “They called me a ‘liability to the job site,’” Pugh said, recalling the words of his manager when a seizure cost him his last job at a fast-food restaurant in this western Montana city. When the 46-year-old lost work in the past, his wife of 10 years covered their rent, and he tended to their home until he found another job. But hi...