Houston Chronicle, May 5, 2008 WASHINGTON - In a study denounced by Republicans as a politically motivated publicity stunt, the House Government Reform Committee's Democratic staff warned Monday that the nation's top hospital trauma centers, including three in the Houston area, would be overwhelmed by the victims of a Madrid-style terrorist attack. Changes in Medicaid regulations due to take effect on May 26 could annually cost the country's Level 1 trauma centers a total of $623 million in lost federal funding and potentially $600 million in lost state funding. The Houston area's Level 1 trauma centers - UTMB, Ben Taub General Hospital and Memorial Hermann Hospital-The Texas Medical Center - could lose up to $141 million annually in federal and state support, the report said.