Congress delays hospital cuts for safety-net providers—again
H.R. 3581 — Protect DSH Act · Filed by Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) · Introduced May 23, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill delays scheduled cuts to Medicaid payments to hospitals that serve disproportionately high numbers of uninsured and low-income patients (called Disproportionate Share Hospital or DSH payments). The cuts were set to begin in 2026–2028; this bill pushes them back to 2029–2031, giving hospitals three additional years before their federal Medicaid funding is reduced.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative function is to postpone scheduled reductions in federal Medicaid DSH payments to hospitals. It does not eliminate, reduce, or restructure the underlying payment formula—only the timing of when cuts take effect.
What the text implies
- The delay does not address the fiscal sustainability of DSH payments; it transfers the burden of eventual cuts to a future Congress, potentially making them larger or more disruptive when they occur.
- Hospitals may increase reliance on federal DSH funding during the three-year extension, making the eventual reduction more painful and politically difficult to implement.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
hospitals with high uninsured/low-income patient populations (safety-net hospitals); hospital systems operating DSH-eligible facilities