Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Tough Talk On GOP Plans For Medicaid
Slate: The Klondike Kickback: How The Senate Health Care Bill Screws Blue States On Medicaid While Sparing Alaska
On page 64 of the bill, it says that if a state spends 25 percent more than average per patient, Washington will reduce its Medicaid contribution by up to 2 percent the next year. (So, if were scheduled to grow by 2.4 percent, it might only grow by .4 percent). If a state spends 25 percent less than average, it will see its contribution increased by 2 percent. Essentially, states — including much of the Northeast — would be penalized for being generous, in order to fund more Medicaid spending in states that are not. It's only a one-year penalty — so it's not designed to ratchet down funding for, say, New York or Massachusetts over time. But “it really is hurting states that, for a variety of reasons, have higher spending per beneficiary,” Edwin Park of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities told me. (Weissmann, 6/22)
Los Angeles Times: Republicans Aren't Just Repealing Obamacare, They Are Gutting A Guarantee Of Healthcare For The Poor
Three million and $1.6 trillion. The first number represents an estimate of the children who would lose healthcare coverage under the bill Republican senators worked on in secret and finally unveiled on Thursday. The second number reflects the total amount of Medicaid cuts — in the form of the elimination of the Medicaid expansion for working families that was part of the Affordable Care Act, capped federal spending for Medicaid and additional cuts proposed in the president’s budget — that would go to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. (Henry A. Waxman, 6/22)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Medicaid Is A Sacred Promise To The Least Of Us
Members of the U.S. Congress are currently attempting to make significant changes to our nation's health care laws. These changes would decrease the care people on Medicaid receive for the first time its history. (Gregory V. Palmer, 6/22)
AL.com: Congress' Plan To Cut Medicaid Threatens Alabama's Rural Communities
In many small towns across Alabama, the Great Recession of 2008 is still visible in empty storefronts, shrunken paychecks and lives put on hold. Unfortunately, those rural communities will soon be dealt another devastating blow if Congress cuts federal funding for our state's Medicaid program. Medicaid is a critical lifeline for 24 percent of Alabama's rural and small-town residents, and the deep cuts to Medicaid being considered right now by Congress would have a harmful and disproportionate impact on our children, seniors and families in need. (Jim Carnes, 6/22)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Don't Take Away The Medicaid Lifeline That Protects Our Children's Health Coverage
As a pediatrician in training, I know firsthand the importance of ensuring children have access to affordable, comprehensive health care coverage. I stand with the American Academy of Pediatrics in urging the Senate to forge a new path forward to protect children's coverage. (Jennifer Kusma, 6/22)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Sen. Rob. Portman Must Vote "No" On Deeply Flawed Senate Health Care Bill
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's proposed evisceration of the Affordable Care Act -- crafted secretly behind closed doors and unveiled only today, yet seemingly destined for a Senate vote in just a few days -- is not much different from the heartless version Republican Speaker Paul Ryan got the House to pass. The Senate bill, like its House-passed template, is in essence a tax cut for high-income people that will be paid for by taking health care coverage away from low-income people -- and denying opioid addiction treatment to millions, a dreadful burden in states like Ohio where the opioid epidemic is raging most intensely. (6/22)
Kansas City Star: Medicaid Cuts Would Be A Devastating Blow For Rural America
The AHCA would cut $840 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years. It would decimate millions of Americans’ access to health care, particularly in rural areas. The bill leaves “millions of the sickest, most under served populations in our nation without coverage,” the National Rural Health Association says, “further escalating the rural hospital closure crisis.” (6/22)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Medicaid Cuts Would Bring Deep Pain To Wisconsin
More than 500,000 Wisconsin children are covered by Medicaid. These children, along with the 750,000 older, disabled and low-income Wisconsinites who rely on Medicaid, are now in jeopardy. Recently, the House of Representatives voted to cut the program by 25% over the next 10 years. (Lynn Breedlove, 6/22)
