House Republicans Unveil Plan To Cut Medicaid Funding
As Politico reports, states will bear the burden of the plan, which includes new work requirements and curbs states’ ability to levy taxes on providers. The House Energy and Commerce Committee will meet 2 p.m. Tuesday to debate and advance the bill.
Politico:
States Bear The Brunt Of House GOP Medicaid Plan
The House Energy and Commerce Committee proposal released Sunday night does not include the most controversial ideas, including per-capita caps on federal Medicaid payments to states, but it incorporates new mandates that will likely force states to revamp how they finance their programs or cut benefits. The health provisions also include new work requirements that are expected to lead many people to lose coverage, as well as a new cost-sharing requirement for some beneficiaries in the program, not to exceed five percent of a patient’s income. The plan also hits on hot-button social issues — proposing, for instance, to cut federal funding for groups like Planned Parenthood and ban the use of Medicaid dollars for gender-affirming care for youth. It also scales back funding from states that use their own funds to offer coverage for undocumented people. (Leonard and King, 5/11)
The Hill:
New Mexico Governor Says Potential GOP Cuts To Medicaid Would ‘Destroy Health Care As We Know It’
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) on Sunday blasted Republican efforts to reduce Medicaid funding, saying potential cuts would “destroy health care as we know it.” “This is very simply an effort to destroy health care as we know it, to rip it away from everyday Americans, make it more costly for everybody else,” Lujan Grisham said in an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” The Democratic governor warned that potential cuts would have far-reaching consequences across the country. (Fortinsky, 5/11)
KFF Health News:
Medicaid Payments Barely Keep Hospital Mental Health Units Afloat. Federal Cuts Could Sink Them
This town’s hospital is a holdout on behalf of people going through mental health crises. The facility’s leaders have pledged not to shutter their inpatient psychiatric unit, as dozens of other U.S. hospitals have Keeping that promise could soon get tougher if Congress slashes Medicaid funding. The joint federal-state health program covers an unusually large share of mental health patients, and hospital industry leaders say spending cuts could accelerate a decades-long wave of psychiatric unit closures. (Leys, 5/12)
KFF Health News:
Journalists Zero In On Potential Medicaid Cuts And Social Security Hiccups
KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed funding cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services on CBS News’ “24/7” on May 7. KFF Health News correspondent Darius Tahir discussed Social Security and the Trump administration’s plans on CBS on May 6. (5/10)
Also —
The Colorado Sun:
Colorado Mental Health Providers Say They Were “Betrayed” By Medicaid
Behavioral health providers stepped up to offer new services to fill a gap, but the promise of higher reimbursement rates is going away. (Brown, 5/12)
