DarthDoyle Rearranges Chairs on Hospital's Sinking Deck

Darth has decided to reveal more of his hand in his hospital-taxing scheme.

He'll take the money from Rich hospitals and give it to Poor ones (we think).

UW Hospital had been projected to gain $23.3 million in Medicaid reimbursements over two years under the original proposal. Under the new calculations, it would receive about $11 million. Meriter, which had been projected to get almost $22 million, would receive about $14 million. The projected reimbursement for St. Mary's Hospital's increased by half a million dollars, to $4.8 million.

Officials from UW Hospital and Meriter would not comment because they had not analyzed the new figures. A St. Mary's spokesman said the hospital is following the lead of the hospital association in opposing the tax.

Some hospitals would receive less funding under the new version of the plan, in part because it allots a smaller reimbursement to hospitals with fewer managed care HMO patients, said Jason Helgerson, state Medicaid director.

Or maybe he's trying to increase "managed HMO" users.

And we all know how well HMO's worked, right?