Texas hospitals expect to lose $27 million a day in Medicaid funding starting Tuesday - AP News

The shortfall hits when Texas's new fiscal year begins Tuesday. The bulk of the cut targets the Comprehensive Hospital Increase Reimbursement Program, known as CHIRP, which fills the gap between what Medicaid pays hospitals and what it actually costs them to treat those patients. Hospitals across the state routinely spend more on Medicaid patients than the program reimburses, and CHIRP was designed to make up that difference.

For people in Lubbock, this is not an abstract budget fight in Austin. Hospitals here serve a large share of patients on Medicaid, and when reimbursement falls short, the pressure lands on staffing, services, and capacity. A funding hole this size, compounded daily, forces administrators to make choices that eventually reach patients in waiting rooms and on care floors. Rural and lower-income communities tend to feel those cuts first and hardest, and the South Plains has both.

The three programs the Trump administration declined to approve account for the full $9.8 billion gap, with CHIRP representing the largest single piece.