Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services

As Nebraska faces a billion-dollar budget deficit, state agencies are being asked to cut 8% of their budgets, more than the typical 5% request.

As Macy Byers reports, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services expects to find savings in the Medicaid program.

One proposal would cut reimbursement rates to healthcare providers, which Nebraska Hospital Association president Jeremy Nordquist says could dry up a key revenue source for Nebraska hospitals.

When a hospital doesn't have funding overall through the combination of Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance, it impacts the care that's available to everybody.

The most recent analysis of Nebraska's data comes from national health policy organization KFF.

Trevor Totev with the Open Sky Policy Institute expects more Nebraskans to lose health coverage as federal financing for the program reduces and Nebraska DHHS cuts its budget over the next two years.

I think that the vast majority of coverage loss probably won't be seen until 2028.

Our Department of Health and Human Services kind of estimates around $36 million in savings over the biennium from work requirements alone, which they, they know is going to be due to membership loss.

Most people who lost coverage in this round did not reply to follow-up requests for information by Nebraska DHHS.

For Nebraska Public Media News, I'm Macy Byers.

Nahawka recently became the first known village in Nebraska to create a permanent all-out ban against data centers.

But I've been in my current situation or my current career for about a year and a half.

Before then, I was a case manager for DHHS for foster care.

I was a CPS worker.

And I just knew that I wanted to do something big.