Additional Medicare, Medicaid benefits may be whittled or cut as Democrats woo moderates
Democrats’ sweeping plans to bolster Medicare and Medicaid benefits have been scaled back amid an assault from industry groups and opposition from centrists like Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), with popular coverage expansions likely to be narrowed in hopes of reaching a deal this week.
A proposal to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision benefits is in danger of falling from the tax-and-spending package rapidly taking shape in Congress. A framework to expand Medicaid to cover Americans in a dozen mostly Southern states has also been reworked.
Meanwhile, liberals’ plan to give Medicare broad power to negotiate prescription drug prices has come under sustained attack from pharmaceutical lobbyists and some Democrats, including Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). Scaling back that proposal, which was expected to save more than $700 billion over a decade, also complicates Democrats’ efforts to pay for coverage expansions.
Manchin told reporters on Monday that he had concerns about some of Democrats’ signature proposals, underscoring the fragile state of negotiations. “You’ve got to stabilize” Medicare’s long-term finances before adding new benefits, the senator said, adding that he thought the Medicaid proposal was “unfair” to states like his, which have already helped pay for the expansion of the program under the Affordable Care Act.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/additional-medicare-medicaid-benefits-may-be-whittled-or-cut-as-democrats-woo-moderates/ar-AAPXQCL
Why one key Democrat doesn't want the federal government picking up the tab for Medicaid expansion
WASHINGTON – One Senate Democrat could block an effort by his colleagues to extend health care to millions of poor people in a dozen states.
For West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, his opposition is a matter of fairness.
Taxpayers in his state – and in the 37 other states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility under the 2010 Affordable Care Act – pick up 10% of the cost to cover low-income residents who are covered by the law.
Why then, he argues, should the federal government now pay for 100% of the cost in the states that have refused the 90-10 split – as Democrats are proposing to do in the massive social spending bill pending in Congress.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/why-one-key-democrat-doesnt-want-the-federal-government-picking-up-the-tab-for-medicaid-expansion/ar-AAPYUoD
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