The state handed out $14.4 million in federal funds yesterday to help hospitals cover the costs of treating uninsured patients.

The money comes as hospitals statewide are reporting significant increases in the numbers of people seeking medical care who have been laid off and no longer have insurance.

Richard Meiers, president and chief executive officer of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, said the federal money could save jobs at hospitals facing budget shortfalls.

"It's very helpful," he said.

The funds to help defray the costs of treating the uninsured have been coming into the state since 2005. The total funding amount has ranged from a high of $24.4 million in 2006 to a low of $14.4 million this year.

Half of the money doled out yesterday went to 16 private hospitals statewide, while the rest went to the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation to cover costs at public hospitals. State Department of Human Services director Lillian Koller handed the money out in check form yesterday during a short ceremony at the healthcare association's headquarters in Kaka'ako.

Koller said the money will help hospitals facing tough budget decisions. And she gave hospitals more good news: The federal government has pledged to keep the money coming annually, at least through 2013.

The funds are not related to the recently passed federal stimulus package.

But Kevin Roberts, the Healthcare Association of Hawaii's board chairman, said the money will definitely give hospitals a little extra help in the short run and is "as practical an economic stimulus that we could hope for." He added, at the ceremony, that "this is going to save some jobs."

Meiers pointed out that hospitals lose millions of dollars annually treating uninsured patients. The Queen's Medical Center alone spent about $28 million for "charity care" last year, said Paula Yoshioka, executive vice president and chief administrative officer.

From the funding passed out yesterday, Queen's got $2.9 million — the largest slice of the total.

Yoshioka said the funding doesn't go very far.

But she added that every little bit helps. "We're appreciative," she said yesterday, after the checks were given out. "We get about 50,000 visits to our ER every year. We see them all," regardless of whether they have insurance.