A pox on the Las Vegas Sun’s Marshall Allen for beating us to the punch with his first-rate piece on how recent Medicaid cuts hurt both underinsured and uninsured patients and how, duh, it will cost us all more in the long run when those untreated patients eventually have to seek emergency room care.

The amounts of money physicians and hospitals are reimbursed for providing services to these low-income patients have been cut by more than 40 percent in some cases, according to the piece and to what area doctors told CityLife, too. Cuts in reimbursements mean doctors, clinics and hospitals will continue to trim services to stay afloat, especially in a recession. From undocumented cancer patients to kids with spinal problems, the pain of cuts is widening.

As Allen put it, “So the financial dominoes are falling: A state budget crisis resulted in cuts to Medicaid, the state’s insurance program for the poor, which in turn chopped reimbursements to hospitals and doctors.”

Unfortunately, there’s more to the story.

Since Medicaid became law in 1965, it’s been sort of a joint venture by both the federal and state governments. We bet you can guess what the Bush administration is doing with the federal pot of Medicaid money.

“In the first of an expected avalanche of post-election regulations, the Bush administration on (Nov. 7) narrowed the scope of services that can be provided to poor people under Medicaid’s outpatient hospital benefit,” according to the New York Times. Programs affected by Bush’s cuts range from dental care to diagnostic screening for children.

Administration officials said they needed to “clarify” the definition of outpatient hospital services since states were claiming what an official statement called excessive payments. “This rule represents a new initiative to preserve the fiscal integrity of the Medicaid program,” according to an official statement.

The reductions take effect Dec. 8.

With cuts coming ever faster, officials at University Medical Center, the county’s top provider of health care to the poor, have said low-income cancer patients are among the hardest hit. The Sun reports UMC is eliminating its outpatient cancer services, forcing about 400 patients to seek treatment elsewhere (which is unlikely since those patients who are either self-pay or Medicaid will be unable to afford the costly procedures).

Cancer care providers expressed near-exasperation at having to cut services. In a joint statement to CityLife, UMC and Nevada Cancer Institute officials said they’re terminating their contract to provide outpatient oncology services by Dec. 31. Officials said cuts in Medicaid reimbursements have forced their hand.

“Medicaid can’t continue to cut reimbursements and not expect it to have an impact on patient access to medical services,” said Kathy Silver, chief executive officer at UMC. “It’s very expensive to provide oncology services, and UMC has a fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers of Clark County. The hardest decision is one that impacts patient services, but unfortunately, we had no alternative.”

Officials at Sunrise Hospital, the second largest area provider of health care to the poor, said further cuts would make life even tougher for the low-income patients they serve.

“Additional cuts would make it very difficult for us to provide the services that we do … what’s happening is it’s forcing us to look very closely at the services we do provide,” said Dan Davidson, spokesman for Sunrise.

Sadly, with the worst of the recession likely yet to come, further Medicaid cuts made in the name of balanced budgets will only hurt the neediest patients in the short-term and, further along, each American taxpayer.