Medicaid Meanderings: GOP Medicaid Plans – On The Right Track To Reform Or A Program ‘Sledgehammer’?
Opinion writers critique how the Medicaid program is handled in the GOP House and Senate health plans.
Bloomberg:
Republican Plans For Medicaid Are On The Right Track
Republican efforts to pass health-care legislation are in jeopardy again, in part because of controversy over its potential impact on Medicaid. But the Republican reforms are more moderate, and more worthwhile, than they are getting credit for. (Ramesh Ponnuru, 6/29)
The Washington Post:
There’s No Sugarcoating It: Republicans Are Taking A Sledgehammer To Medicaid
In a Post commentary this week, Medicaid administrator Seema Verma espoused a troubling philosophy about the program she oversees. She spoke of transforming Medicaid under the Republican plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Taking a fiscal sledgehammer to the program is more like it. (Irwin Redlener, 6/29)
USA Today:
Senate Health Bill: Reports Of Medicaid's Demise Greatly Exaggerated
Clearly the use of numbers is the easiest way to quantify the effort made to help the less needy, or, conversely, to criticize the absence of such aid. This week, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the new Senate Republican health care bill would leave 22 million more people without health insurance in 2026 than under current law, triggering Democratic predictions of death and destruction throughout the nation. (Christian Schneider, 6/29)
RealClear Health:
The Fixes The Senate Bill Needs
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is struggling to find the votes to pass an updated version of the draft health-care bill he first released last week. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate of the bill did not make his job any easier. CBO projects the Senate plan would increase the number of Americans going without health insurance by 22 million in 2026. (James C. Capretta, 6/30)
CBS News:
Should People On Medicaid Be Required To Work?
[Kellyanne] Conway's comment that Medicaid recipients should seek new jobs with health care coverage seemingly ignores that many Americans on Medicaid are working for employers who can't or won't pay for health care coverage. Walmart (WMT), for instance, by one estimate is said to cost taxpayers $6.2 billion in subsidies from programs such as Medicaid and food stamps, since many of its low-wage workers must rely on government programs to make ends meet. While Walmart is often singled out for this phenomenon, it's far from alone. (Aimee Picchi, 6/26)
Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Gov. John Kasich Must Veto Medicaid Freeze In Ohio Budget
There is little doubt -- nor should there be -- that Gov. John Kasich will line-item veto Ohio lawmakers' ill-considered, destructive, inhumane freeze of Ohio's Medicaid expansion in the state budget bill. The freeze from his fellow Republicans demands a veto from Kasich, who sought and supports the expansion, which now covers about 700,000 Ohioans, 98,000 of them in Cuyahoga County. (6/29)
