Senate Conservatives Look to Cut Medicaid
Conservative Senate Republicans are weighing faster and steeper cuts to Medicaid that could drop millions of people from coverage and mark the biggest changes to the program in its 52-year history.
The plan being pushed by lawmakers such as Mike Lee (R., Utah) is likely to face resistance from centrist GOP senators who are already concerned a health-overhaul bill passed by House Republicans would leave too many people uninsured. But the push for more aggressive Medicaid cutbacks indicates that if a bill ultimately passes both chambers, it could significantly scale back the federal-state insurance program that covers 73 million low-income or disabled Americans.
Other measures in the Republican health initiative have drawn big headlines, but the Medicaid plan could affect many more people and shift significant costs onto hospitals and states.
(snip)
The House bill that passed earlier this month would let people in the 31 states and the District of Columbia that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act remain on the program with enhanced federal funding, as long as they signed up before 2020. But it would halt any federal money for new beneficiaries after that time. It would also implement wholesale changes to funding Medicaid that would cut money for the program in all states.
Fourteen million fewer people would be covered by Medicaid at the end of that time, compared with the number expected under the current law, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Some conservative Senate Republicans, such as Mr. Lee, want to immediately start phasing back federal money for expansion enrollees, a process that would take 10 years.
(snip)
The push by conservatives is likely to complicate negotiations with centrist GOP lawmakers and thrust Medicaid to the center of the Senate negotiations. That would mirror what happened in the House, where conservatives pushed to end the Medicaid expansion sooner than 2020, but the concerns of centrists prevailed.. Centrist GOP senators are on board with some Medicaid cuts but disagree over how best to implement them. Some say the House plan to halt federal funding for new expansion enrollees in 2020 is too harsh and want a longer sunset of the program.
(snip)
The expansion is a major hurdle because 20 Senate Republicans represent states that expanded their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act. A large number of those lawmakers could be vulnerable in the 2020 elections and could be wary of doing anything that removes beneficiaries from the rolls abruptly.
More..
https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-conservatives-look-to-slash-medicaid-1494759603
= new reply since forum marked as read
