Disproportionate-share payment sparks policy debate.

Despite a recent Congressional Budget Office report questioning the need for Medicare's disproportionate-share adjustment for many hospitals, federal lawmakers not only continue to support the add-on but hope to increase it in FY 1991. However, congressional debate over the issue was widened to include some fundamental questions about the original legislative intent of creating the disproportionate-share payments and what such funding is used for today.