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Posted: Tuesday, May 29th, 2012 9:03 AM HST

Abercrombie to award $10 mil in federal money for hospitals; poor

By Ken Hupp - 67AM KPUA News

The Abercrombie administration will award most of the $10 million in federal money the state receives this year to help cover medical costs for the poor at the state's public hospitals. Through the past several years, the state has given the federal money to private hospitals to help them offset the cost of caring for patients who are on Medicaid or are uninsured. But the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., which oversees more than a dozen public hospitals, has a $10.5 million shortfall and is more than two months behind in paying bills. The administration plans to distribute $6.8 million of the federal money available for charity care this year to public hospitals to help with the shortfall. It will also direct $2.3 million toward Medicaid patients and the uninsured