Committee hears Senate bill to restore higher hospital MET/DISH payments amid litigation and budget concern

Senate Bill 249, a proposal to set Medicaid Enhancement Tax (MET)‑related hospital payments and return a larger share of collections to hospitals, received extensive testimony during a House Ways and Means public hearing on May 1. The bill would establish a hospital payment pool based on MET revenue from the prior state fiscal year and makes temporary changes intended to increase the dollars returned to hospitals while capturing additional federal matching funds.

What the bill would do: Sponsor Sen. Regina Birdsall (District 19) and co‑sponsor Sen. Cindy Rosenwald described the bill as an interim, two‑year framework to increase the portion of MET receipts returned to hospitals and to change the distribution methodology (from primarily disproportionate‑share payments to a mix that includes Medicaid rate and directed payments) to leverage higher federal match. Witnesses and agency staff explained that the MET is a 5.4% assessment on hospitals’ net patient service revenue; fiscal‑year 2024 MET revenues were cited at approximately $319.2 million and nonbinding estimates for FY25 were about $348.3 million.

Why it matters: Hospitals…