States Worry That Bill’s Medicaid Changes Could Undermine Care For Poor And Older Residents

Los Angeles Times: The GOP Drive To Repeal Obamacare Threatens A Quiet Revolution In How U.S. Cities Care For Their Poor
Over the last four years, [Denver] has quietly transformed how it cares for its poorest residents. As hundreds of thousands of Coloradans gained health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, known as or Obamacare, Denver built an extensive new system to keep patients healthy, hiring dozens of mental health specialists and nurses, expanding dental clinics and launching efforts to help patients manage debilitating illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease. (Levey, 3/22)

Bloomberg: Michigan Governor Warns Congressmen Of GOP Health Bill's Impact 
Rick Snyder, Michigan’s Republican governor, is warning congressmen in his state that a bill repealing Obamacare could harm some of their most vulnerable constituents. Snyder sent personal letters to each member of Michigan’s House and Senate delegation on Monday, saying that the American Health Care Act would limit federal funding, and detailing potential harms. Snyder had earlier said he opposes the AHCA, which repeals and replaces portions of the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare. (Tracer and Edney, 3/321)

Detroit Free Press: Snyder Warns Michigan Lawmakers About Obamacare Overhaul
Gov. Rick Snyder, reaching out to Republican members of Michigan's congressional delegation on Tuesday, never specifically asked them to reject a GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, but he reminded them individually — with statistics specific to their districts — of the tens of thousands of Michiganders who could lose coverage if they support it...But even as Snyder warned members of the consequences of passing the legislation —  including changes that may gut funding for Healthy Michigan, the state's Medicaid expansion program that has insured some 650,000 lower-income Michiganders, and cut support for the traditional Medicaid program as well — many of the state's Republican members of the U.S. House continued to voice their support for the plan. (Spangler, 3/21)

Boston Globe: Baker Says Mass. Would Take A Hit Of At Least $1B Because Of GOP Health Care Plan
Governor Charlie Baker warned Tuesday that the GOP plan to repeal the federal health care law could put a half-million Massachusetts residents at risk of losing coverage, blow a $2 billion hole in the state budget, and threaten the state’s first-in-the-nation commitment to universal health care coverage. In a letter from Baker and in subsequent testimony from his health chief, the Republican administration stepped further into the caustic national debate over President Trump’s effort to repeal his predecessor’s health care law. (Miller, 3/21)

WBUR: Gov. Baker: GOP Obamacare Replacement Would Cost Mass. $1 Billion By 2020
If the American Health Care Act (AHCA) becomes law, it would cost Massachusetts $1 billion by 2020, nearly $2 billion just two years later, and the losses would "likely have a greater annual impact in the years that follow," wrote Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, in a letter to the state's all-Democratic congressional delegation. ... And Baker says the state would lose another $425 million to $475 million a year if new Medicaid rules in the AHCA put specific payments in the state's Medicaid waiver at risk. (Bebinger, 3/21)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Many Older Louisianians Will Likely Pay More Under Republican Health Plan
Older Louisianians who buy their own health insurance are likely to pay more under the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, according to a Times-Picayune analysis of data collected by The Associated Press.  Given that the state voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in the 2016 election, many voters who helped put Trump in office could see their tax credits for health insurance drop under the GOP proposal. (Lipinski, 3/21)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Could Changes To GOP Health Plan Help Older Georgians, Trump Voters?
A series of changes to the GOP’s Obamacare replacement plan -- aimed at winning over hard-line conservatives -- could provide more financial aid to older Americans to help buy them insurance. The move announced Monday night could bolster tax credits for people ages 50 to 64, many of them working class who voted for Donald Trump. The tax credits are aimed at helping people who don’t have insurance through an employer buy their own coverage. (Williams, 3/21)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 'Trumpcare' Subsidies Would Be Higher In Atlanta
Subsidies from “Trumpcare” will be higher for households in Atlanta and most Georgia cities than the subsidies under Obamacare, according to an analysis by WalletHub. The calculation does not in any way reckon with the number of people who will not have insurance, but it shows how relatively affluent cities may -- on average -- do better than less affluent, less citified areas. (Kanell, 3/21)

Health News Florida: Older Floridians Worry About Obamacare Replacement
Older Americans who have not yet reached Medicare age are among the groups hardest hit by the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. An analysis by The Associated Press shows that many of those who buy their own health insurance stand to pay thousands of dollars more. That is especially true for the nearly 3.4 million older Americans who have enrolled through the government marketplaces, many of whom receive generous federal subsidies through the health care law enacted under former President Barack Obama. (Aboraya, 3/21)

Billings (Mont.) Gazette: Tribes Have Had Better Access To Health Care Under ACA; GOP Health Plan Could Change That
As Republicans in Congress work to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, state and tribal leaders in Montana are concerned Native Americans might lose improved access and care created under the law. Led by former U.S. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, Congress in 2009 peppered the ACA with several health insurance reforms specific to Native Americans. They expanded access to care, brought more local control and funding to Indian Health Service facilities, and ultimately provided guarantees that the federal budget will pay the full cost for most Native users of state-managed Medicaid expansions. (Frazier, 3/22)

Billings (Mont.) Gazette: Ending Medicaid Expansion Would Be A 'Significant Blow,' Health Care Provider Says
If the Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act becomes law, Montana could end its Medicaid expansion program, which has opened up coverage options for many Native Americans. ... In Hardin at Bighorn Valley Health Center, Dr. David Mark said that would have a negative effect. Medicaid expansion was “really a game-changer in terms of connecting so many people in our community and in our region for the first time ever have really been connected to access to health care now,” Mark said. “It’s really allowed people to access care in a whole new way.” (Michels, 3/22)

The Washington Post: Americans Worry, Cheer As Congress Moves To Upend The Affordable Care Act
A soon-to-be father whose wife is getting prenatal care through the Affordable Care Act. A woman whose mother would have been bankrupted by her cancer diagnosis had she not had ACA coverage. An older self-employed couple, insured under the law, who for “the first time in our lives” can afford to see doctors and buy medicines. This month, they and nearly 1,200 other people responded when The Washington Post asked readers how they thought the health-care debate on Capitol Hill would affect them: “Do you or someone you know have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act? What do you think of the proposed changes by Congress? Are you concerned about a specific part of the plan? Share your story.” (Somashekhar, 3/22)

Kaiser Health News: A Young Man With Parkinson’s Frets Over The Affordability Of GOP Health Plan
Many millennials have their hands full as they launch into adulthood — jobs, homes and partners. But Ford Inbody, 33, already thinks about a time when he won’t be able to work. He has Parkinson’s disease. Every night after work, he and his wife, Cortney, walk their two dogs through their Overland Park, Kan., neighborhood. For now, going out for an evening’s stroll is easy. But many of their evening conversations revolve around a time they know is coming — when these walks will prove difficult. (Smith, 3/22)