It comes as Powys Teaching Health Board this week voted to extend wait times for patients referred to hospitals in England.
The move has been condemned by Labour MP Steve Witherden, who said Powys should receive “formal financial recognition for the unique status of healthcare in Powys”.
The Health Board unanimously voted through the changes on 26 March due to severe financial pressures, expecting a £38.4 million deficit across 2025/26.
Board members were told the alternatives to extending wait times would involve the removal of services or immediately ending staff contracts such as locum doctors.
MP Witherden said: “The decision to deliberately increase waiting times for Powys residents accessing healthcare in England appears to me to be blatantly discriminatory.
“I met with the Board’s chief executive on [20 March].
“It was hinted that the issue had not gone away, but I was far from given the impression that this ghastly plan was to be revived.
“My constituents will suffer for longer because of inadequate funding for rural healthcare.
“We have no district general hospital in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr.
“Services are being scaled back or cut within and without Powys.
“We are completely reliant on cross-border healthcare – 40 per cent of Powys healthcare is delivered in England.
“Welsh patients being effectively discriminated against in English hospitals because we do not have the money to pay for extra capacity is a red line. If PTHB cannot afford it, it needs more funding via a formal financial recognition for the unique status of healthcare in Powys.
“I questioned the First Minister during an evidence session of the Welsh Affairs Committee focused on cross-border healthcare in January.
“As you would expect, the number one thing she said she needed was more funding from the UK Government.
“We find ourselves again at the sharp edge of austerity.
“My constituents deserve much better.”
The plans were approved as part of the annual budget to delay treatments for patients referred to services in England.
The move is a cash-saving exercise estimated to save £22.4 million, bringing the deficit down to £16 million.
The new wait time rules will come into effect in July, with patients remaining on waiting lists and contacted by hospitals when appointments become available.
It is estimated that the extended wait times will affect anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 patients.
The changes could see patients waiting up to two years for certain procedures.
High-risk patients however will not be affected by the rule changes, including children and cancer patients.
This is the latest in a raft of changes aimed at reducing the budget deficit, which also include a reduction in the use of agency staff, a freeze on recruitment and changes to opening hours of minor injury units in Brecon and Llandrindod Wells.
Llais, the patient advocacy group, branded the move as a “levelling down”.