Hawaii's hospitals have been hit hard financially even before the recession.
Now they stand to get millions in much-needed federal funds.
More than 12 million dollars in federal money would come if the state puts up about the same amount. despite hard times lawmakers carved out the funds, but it awaits the governor's approval.
Hawaii's private hospitals are no strangers to red ink.
"We have a very fragile health care system here, for the past 10 or 15 years most of our providers have been struggling from a budget perspective," said Susan Murray, of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.
Struggling to the tune of a 150 million dollar annual gap between the cost of care and the payments they get for it. Much of the gap comes from medicare and medicaid shortfalls.
"At some point you can only wring so much blood out of a turnip and we're there now," said rich Meiers of the Healthcare Association.
Lawmakers approved 12.3 million dollars in state funds in order to get a federal match known as "DISH" or disproportionate share hospital allowance. It helps make up gaps in medicaid funding.
"Clearly what we want to try to do from our perspective is try to pay the fair share of the government service," says Senator David Ige.
About 110,000 people in Hawaii are covered by medicaid under Quest. Lawmakers say putting more than 12 million dollars in taxpayer funds toward the federal match will help private-pay patients ultimately by helping keep keep health care costs as low as possible.
House Finance Chairman, Marcus Oshiro says, "It will go a long way to ensure quality healthcare for all our residents both on oahu and on the neighbor islands, so we hope the governor will release this money."
Governor Lingle has until mid-July to sign or let the bill become law without her signature, or veto it. Lawmakers say they're prepared to come back for an override if that happens.
Representative Ryan Yamane says, "This is talking about peoples lives, and if we need to rally the troops to get the majority to understand that this is a valuable investment into our future, we will."
The governor's policy team is still reviewing the bill. last year the governor delayed releasing similar matching funds over concerns some of it would go toward retroactive doctor bonuses.
