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ashoup
In Administration, News

Kicking You While You’re Down: 5 Facts You Need to Know About Medicaid & Why the Trump Administration’s New Proposal Would Hurt People

 

The Trump administration announced that it would allow states to deny Medicaid coverage to some low-income adults if they are not working or have a work-related activity, a move that could affect as many as 22 million people, with the stated goal that it would incentivize people to find a job. The facts speak otherwise. The truth is: the vast majority of people with Medicaid coverage who can work, are working. This policy ignores the reality that many who want to work can’t find a job and kicks people while they are down: targeting people with chronic health conditions, families with a sick child or a parent who needs care, and in particular women. If the goal here is to help people find a job, how does taking away their health care do that? It doesn’t. It only makes it harder. Here are five facts you should know about Medicaid and why the Trump administration’s policy would hurt people.

FACT –  The vast majority of people with Medicaid coverage who can work, are working.

  • 60 percent of nondisabled people with health coverage through Medicaid have a job and are working, including 42 percent working full-time.
  • 51 percent of working adult Medicaid enrollees have full-time jobs year-round, but their salaries are still low enough to qualify for Medicaid coverage, or have Medicaid because their employers do not offer insurance.  
  • Nearly 80 percent of nondisabled people with Medicaid coverage live in a family where at least one person is working, including 64 percent working full-time. The other adult family member may not be working because they have caregiving or other responsibilities at home.
  • A state by state breakdown can be found HERE

FACT – About half of working adults on Medicaid work for a small business and industries that typically do not provide health coverage, like farming.

  • Nearly half of adults who work and have Medicaid coverage work at businesses with fewer than 100 employees, including 42 percent in businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
  • 40 percent of adults who work with Medicaid coverage work in the the agriculture and service industries.

FACT – The Trump administration’s policy would hurt people with chronic health conditions or taking care of a family member.

  • More than one-third (36 percent) of adults with Medicaid are not working because they are ill or disabled but do not qualify for Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
  • 30 percent of adults on Medicaid without a job report they are taking care of a sick loved one or parent. 15 percent were in school; 9 percent were retired; and only 6 percent could not find work.

FACT – The Trump administration’s work requirement policy would hurt women, particularly women of color.

  • Almost two-thirds, or 62 percent, of those who would lose their Medicaid coverage as a result of work requirements are women, and disproportionately women of color.
  • One reason is women are more likely to be the caregivers for other sick family members, including children, or their parents. And women are more likely to be in jobs that do not provide health coverage.

FACT – The Trump administration’s policy may make it harder for Medicaid enrollees to find a job.

Research from Ohio and Michigan has shown that expanding Medicaid coverage makes it easier to find a job and keep a job. This policy does nothing to help people find work, and it may actually have the opposite effect.

ashoup
In News, Capitol Hill, Administration

2018 Is the Year of Health Care

To: Interested Parties

From: Brad Woodhouse, Campaign Director, Protect Our Care

Subject: 2018 Is the Year of Health Care

Date: January 2, 2018

In 2017, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress waged a war on our health care – from ACA repeal to Medicaid cuts to health care sabotage. Under their planned agenda, costs would rise, coverage would fall and millions of Americans would lose protections against abuses from insurance companies.

The story of 2018 is a simple one: it will be the year the politics of health care will haunt Republicans at the polls. Poll after poll shows that health care is the number one issue on voters’ minds and that they strongly oppose the GOP war on health care. Relatedly, the Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever, and more than 8 million people have already signed up for coverage in open enrollment.

Now, some Republicans want to keep their war on health care going.  They do so at their political peril.

The American people see health care as their top issue.

  • 48 percent in a recent Associated Press-NORC poll rated health care as their top concern for 2018, a number double-digits ahead of the second issue, taxes.
  • Health care topped people’s concerns in a POLITICO/Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll. The number one issue people wanted Congress and President Trump to address was to renew funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
  • Health care was the most important issue to people in a recent Economist/YouGov poll (18 percent), followed by Social Security (17 percent).

The American people reject President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ approach to health care.

  • The recent AP/NORC poll had President Trump’s approval/disapproval on health care at 30/70. More voters disapprove of his performance on health than any other issue.
  • According to the November 2017 Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, “The majority of the public (60 percent) – including majorities of Democrats (89 percent) and independents (57 percent) – do not trust President Trump to do what’s best when it comes to health care in this country.”
  • FOX News polling showed only 33% of voters approve of President Trump’s work on health care while 60% disapprove.  

And it will cost Republicans politically if they continue their war on health care, like it did last November.

  • The latest Quinnipiac poll showed 41% of voters as being less likely to vote for a Senator or Member of Congress who backed the GOP’s health care plan with only 19% more likely to support them.
  • Health care was the most important issue for people who voted in the Virginia gubernatorial race in November, more than double any other issue, and Ralph Northam beat Ed Gillespie by 54 points, 77-23, among these voters.
  • In Maine, voters backed a referendum to endorse a key element of the Affordable Care Act by an 18-point margin (59-41), the first time the ACA had ever been on the ballot.

The Affordable Care Act is more popular than it has ever been.

  • Pew Research Center: “Today, more Americans say the 2010 health care overhaul has had a mostly positive than mostly negative effect on the country (44% versus 35%), while 14% say it has not had much effect. Overall support for the health care law also has grown since last year. Currently, 56% of the public approves of the law while 38% disapproves, according to a new national survey by Pew Research Center, conducted Nov. 29-Dec. 4.”
  • A Public Policy Poll for Protect Our Care found that 57% say they approve of the Affordable Care Act to just 36% who say they disapprove – a 21 point gap. This is up 5 points from a September poll done for Save My Care, where approval was 54/38.
ashoup
In Capitol Hill, News

She Did What?! Susan Collins’ Position on the Tax Bill Hurts the Middle Class, the Environment and Health Care, Undermining Her Claims to Leadership on All of These Issues

For years, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) has claimed to support the middle-class, favored the expansion of health care coverage and pledged to protect the environment. The GOP tax scam hammers the middle class, guts health care coverage and will irreparably hurt the environment. Who is harmed under this bill, and why does Sen. Collins continue to support it?

Mainers’ Health Because Premiums Will Rise and Medicare Cuts Are on the Horizon. Analysis from the Center for American Progress found that Mainers will see their premiums increase $2,350 under this tax bill. 50,000 Mainers will lose their insurance, and Medicare funding will see a $120 million cut in 2018. The immediate cuts are not the only cuts facing health care, either. In a letter to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), CBO Director Keith Hall made clear what Republicans have long said won’t be the case: Medicaid cuts are coming, to the tune of $18 billion. And Republicans, from Paul Ryan to Marco Rubio, are now admitting these cuts will be the next step. Sen. Collins previously highlighted Medicaid cuts as one of her primary concerns with GOP health care legislation and told CBS, “I don’t want seniors to have the anxiety of wondering whether the tax bill somehow is going to trigger a cut in Medicare.”

Middle Class Mainers’ Pocketbooks. The tax scam benefits the wealthiest earners at the expense of the middle class Per JCT analysis, “high-income households would get the largest tax cuts as a share of after-tax income, on average, while households with incomes below $30,000 would on average face a tax increase.” Sen. Collins previously criticized tax cuts for the highest earners.

Saddling Future Generations with More Debt. The tax bill would raise the budget deficit by nearly $1.5 trillion according to every independent analysis which has been conducted. The Joint Committee on Taxation found that the bill would cost $1.63 trillion, the Penn Wharton Budget Model found that it would cost $1.64 trillion and the Tax Foundation found that it would cost $1.78 trillion. Sen. Collins previously said she didn’t want the tax bill to “blow a hole in the deficit.”

Allowing More Drilling in Alaska. Buried in the bill is a provision allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). ANWR drilling is a clear giveaway to the country’s largest oil companies at the expense of the planet, and is unpopular on both sides of the aisle. Twelve GOP Members of Congress recently urged its removal from the bill, and poll found wide opposition across eight key GOP Congressional districts. Sen. Collins previously was the only Republican to vote against ANWR drilling in a budget proposal.

Sen. Collins, it’s clear that the vast majority of this country will be harmed under this bill. It’s massively unpopular, with the opposition nearly doubling those who favor it. And Mainers are already furious about it. It’s not too late to change your vote – come out against this appalling piece of legislation, and instead return to the principles you’ve claimed to want to advance.

Sean England
In Uncategorized

The 2017 Election By the Headlines: Health Care Wins

On Tuesday, voters across the country went to the polls and expressed one opinion above all: the rejection of health care repeal. From Virginia’s gubernatorial race — where exit polls found 39% of voters listing health care as their top issue and Governor-elect Ralph Northam beating Ed Gillespie by 54 points among these voters — to Maine’s ballot initiative — the first time the Affordable Care Act was on the ballot, with voters backing Medicaid expansion 59–41 — health care dominated the night. Don’t believe us? Just take a look at the headlines…

CNN: Obamacare had a good showing on Election Day

Los Angeles Times: Healthcare, for years a political winner for GOP, now powers Democratic wins

Washington Post: Medicaid won bigly in Tuesday’s elections

Associated Press: In election glow, Dems see health care as a winning issue

The Guardian: Americans show support for Obamacare despite Trump’s repeal attempts

New York Times: Election Results Invigorate Medicaid Expansion Hopes

The Atlantic: Obamacare Becomes Popular Again

Huffington Post: For Next Year’s Election, Be A Health Care Voter

Talking Points Memo: Sorry LePage!: Maine Becomes 1st State To Expand Medicaid By Popular Vote

Independent Journal Review: Maine Voters Rebuke Trump, Pass Medicaid Expansion in Huge Win for Obamacare

Fortune: Obamacare Gets Vote of Approval in Maine Referendum on Medicaid Expansion

Fortune: 3 Ways Obamacare Won Big in Election 2017

Forbes: Medicaid Expansion Wins In Maine In Victory For Obamacare

ThinkProgress: Virginia voters sent a loud message about health care

Middletown Transcript: Perhaps people do want health insurance

Washington Examiner: Democrats seize on election results, Obamacare enrollment to urge bipartisan healthcare deal

Sean England
In Uncategorized

Support For Health Care Dominates 2017 Elections

From the night’s most important race — Virginia voters overwhelmingly cited health care as the most important issue and picked Ralph Northam by 54 points — to the Affordable Care’s first time on a state ballot — Maine voters “easily approved” a referendum expanding Medicaid — health care was the dominant issue across the country in the 2017 elections.

In New Hampshire, Mayor-Elect Joyce Craig broke with the incumbent mayor to endorse Medicaid expansion and won a decisive victory; in Virginia delegate races, candidate after candidate backed Medicaid expansion and came away with upset wins; and in Florida, St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, an outspoken supporter of the Affordable Care Act, was re-elected in a hotly-contested race. And as the AP reports, with Utah and Idaho looking to expand Medicaid too, last night could be just the start…

Washington Post: In Virginia, the network exit poll asked respondents which one of five issues mattered most in deciding their vote for governor: 39 percent said health care, far more than any other issue. And health-care focused voters favored Northam by a giant 77 percent to 23 percent margin in preliminary exit polls.

Axios: Exit polls in Virginia showed that health care was the №1 issue for a plurality of voters — and 78% of those voters broke for Democrat Ralph Northam. Virginia already had a Democratic governor. The party’s immense gains in the state legislature, where past efforts to expand Medicaid failed, are what move it closer to reality.

CNBC: The Virginia results increased the likelihood that the state will vote to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. Republicans had blocked outgoing Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe from achieving that goal. At the same time, voters in Maine took Medicaid expansion into their own hands by approving it in a referendum that overpowered opposition from Republican Gov. Paul LePage. Entrenching the expansion in a 32nd state — where Sen. Susan Collins has already cast a key vote against Obamacare repeal — makes Trump’s hope for reviving that effort even more remote.

Washington Post: Less than two months after Republicans’ latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act imploded, a purple state just made a decidedly blue-state move to essentially expand Obamacare. On Tuesday, Maine became the first state to expand Medicaid with a ballot initiative. And it passed overwhelmingly: Maine voters agreed to grant health care to an estimated 70,000 low-income residents by a nearly 20-percentage point margin by the time the measure was called by election watchers. In other words, a sizable number of voters in Maine just voted to do the exact opposite of what the state’s Republican governor and Republicans in Washington have been trying to do.

Richmond Times-Dispatch: The potentially stunning reversal of power in the House could break a political logjam over expansion of Medicaid in Virginia under the Affordable Care Act, if the federal law survives further attacks by Trump and Republicans in Congress. “It means that we will move forward with Medicaid expansion and have health care for everyone who needs it,” declared [Delegate-elect Debra Rodman], who made the issue a centerpiece of her campaign… “I will fight every day to protect our public schools, expand access to affordable health care, and create an economy that works for everybody,” [Delegate-elect Schuler VanValkenburg] said in his victory statement.

USA Today: Chris Hurst, 30, supported stricter gun safety measures, but centered his campaign around other issues including an expansion of Medicaid and increased funding for schools. Hurst was one of several upset winners in state House elections Tuesday that could tip the majority to Democrats when the final recounts are completed. “We can seize on this opportunity to expand Medicaid in the Commonwealth so that everybody who is working but living in poverty can have access to health insurance,” Hurst told a crowd of ecstatic supporters in Blacksburg, home of Virginia Tech.

The Intercept: In a wide-ranging interview, [Delegate Bob Marshall] doubled down on hardline right-wing positions on issues like Medicaid expansion and transgender rights… When asked about blocking a Medicaid expansion that could benefit 400,000 people, he was defensive, suggesting that it’s simply too expensive. “Tell me which school program or transportation program you want to cut? You tell me, then I’ll tell you whether I agree with you or not,” he said, suggesting that expanding Medicaid would mean cutting other things. When asked why the state can’t just fund both things, given that the federal government is taking the lion’s share of Medicaid funding, he simply responded that it’s the same tax dollars. We followed up by asking about people who don’t receive care because they can’t afford it. “Excuse me, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Anybody can get emergency care at any hospital which services Medicaid, that’s a federal law,” he responded. We followed up once more, pointing out that people are going bankrupt from health care bills and that you can’t treat a long-term chronic condition through emergency room visits. “You are of an era that the only answers are coupled to federal money,” he said, pointing at us. But it appears that his era just ended.”

Politico: In his victory speech to supporters at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, Murphy tied his win to a backlash against the Trump administration. “We will stand firm for New Jersey’s values and push back against the mean winds blowing at us from Washington D.C.,” Murphy said, decrying “mean-spirited actions to gut our health care.”

New Hampshire Public Radio: The two candidates more or less saw eye to eye on the issue — that is, except when it came to re-upping Medicaid expansion. When asked by host Laura Knoy whether she’d advocate for keeping the state’s Medicaid Expansion program going, Craig replied, “absolutely,” saying it was crucial to addressing the drug epidemic. Gatsas on the other hand — said he wanted to wait to see what state lawmakers would do.

WMUR: Manchester voters have decided that the city will have its first-ever woman mayor in January, when Mayor-elect Joyce Craig takes the oath of office. The former alderman and school board member ousted four-term Mayor Ted Gatsas on Tuesday, winning nine of the city’s 12 wards.

Florida Politics: “Make no mistake, there is a fight in Washington D.C. about the future of health care,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman. The mayor, facing a reelection election tomorrow that is too close to call, used the opportunity to tout his Healthy St. Pete initiative, which has been led by Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin.

WTSP: Rick Kriseman defeated Rick Baker with 51 percent of the vote to earn a second term as mayor.

AP: The referendum represents the first time since the law took effect that the question of expansion had been put in front of U.S. voters… This may not be the last state vote. Backers of Medicaid expansion in Idaho and Utah have started similar efforts to get the question on the 2018 ballots in their own states.

Sean England
In Uncategorized

Protect Our Care Statement On Maine Voters Passing Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion

Medicaid Expansion in Maine Shows Support for Affordable Access to Health Care, Rejection of Trump, LePage Efforts to Sabotage ACA

Washington, D.C. — In the first popular vote in any state to expand Medicaid, the voters of Maine overwhelmingly supported expansion of Medicaid tonight — a key component of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Despite Republican Governor Paul LePage’s objections and vetoes, and the Republican Congress’s attempts to repeal and sabotage the ACA, voters spoke loud and clear — approving the measure by a vote of 59% to 40% and ensuring 80,000 Mainers get access to affordable health coverage.

“Tonight was the first voter referendum on a part of the Affordable Care Act — and voters voted in favor it, overwhelmingly,” said Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse. “Not only would extending Medicaid provide coverage for 80,000 more Mainers, it would create 3,000 jobs in the health care industry across the state. Republicans from President Trump to Governor LePage to Congressman Poliquin have repeatedly tried to take health care away from people and increase costs with a scheme of repeal and sabotage. Tonight, the voters of Maine fought back. This measure’s results are a clear signal that voters oppose health care repeal and want to keep and strengthen the Affordable Care Act. If that message doesn’t get through, expect voters to continue to express themselves just as they did tonight.”

The strong show of support for Medicaid expansion in Maine is also in stark contrast to new controversial sabotage announced by the Trump Administration today, which places new hurdles to Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of Americans, including dropping a requirement that such changes “increase and strengthen” health coverage. In its announcement, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Seema Verma said the goal of Medicaid covering more people is a “hollow victory of numbers.” Tonight, the people of Maine vehemently disagreed.

Sean England
In Uncategorized

Protect Our Care Blasts the Trump Administration’s Medicaid Changes as Offensive, Harmful and…

CMS’s New Criteria for State Changes to Medicaid will Deny Coverage to Hundreds of Thousands of Americans

Washington, D.C. — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today new criteria for considering requests from states to make changes to their Medicaid programs, dropping the previous requirement that such changes must “increase and strengthen” health coverage for low-income Americans and instead encouraging proposals that place new hurdles to coverage like drug tests and work requirements. CMS Administrator Seema Verma, whose agency’s mission is to help Americans access health coverage through Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and the Health Insurance Marketplace, said in a statement that the goal of covering more people is a “hollow victory of numbers.” This, despite the fact that on its own website homepage CMS promotes that it’s efforts cover 100 million Americans.

Protect Our Care Campaign Director Brad Woodhouse blasted the changes and Verma’s offensive comparison of people gaining access to health care with “hollow” “numbers.”

“The Trump Administration has once again shown that it will stop at nothing in its zeal to sabotage American health care even if it means harming hundreds of thousands of people and resorting to offensive, right-wing stereotypes about low-income Americans in the process,” said Woodhouse. “CMS is supposed to help people get health coverage, but today it offensively called coverage goals a ‘hollow victory of numbers,’ an Orwellian statement from the agency charged with administering Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP and the Health Insurance Marketplace. These changes are shameful, harmful and wreak of the kind of right-wing rhetoric and policy choices that for decades have demeaned and stereotyped people who need health care but can’t afford it. Hundreds of thousands of Americans will lose coverage as a result of these changes — not because they don’t need, deserve or qualify, but because Donald Trump and Republicans want a talking point for their right-wing base. They should be ashamed.”

These changes are the opposite of the message Americans sent to Congress in defeating one effort after another to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which was to improve and expand coverage rather than repeal it. Republican efforts to slash Medicaid and end Medicaid expansion were especially unpopular as countless Americans shared stories of how important access to Medicaid was to them and their families.

protectourcare
In Capitol Hill, Uncategorized

A GOP Senator Held A Town Hall Yesterday: Health Care Dominated the Discussion

In Charles City, Iowa yesterday, GOP Sen. Joni Ernst held the first town hall by a Republican senator since four of her colleagues held a press conference announcing their iteration of the least popular bill in three decades, legislation which would raise costs, lower options, remove protections for pre-existing conditions and gut Medicaid. Sen. Ernst’s constituents had one topic most on their mind: health care. And perhaps unsurprisingly, they were not thrilled with the GOP’s latest plan. Maybe the Republican Senate caucus should start listening to the American people, just 24% of whom support the bill?

Des Moines Register: Joni Ernst is ‘leaning yes’ on Graham-Cassidy health care bill: “Kill the bill. Don’t kill us.”

“Many in the crowd of about 75 weren’t so sure the proposal could deliver. In one impassioned exchange, Tami Haught, a community organizer from Nashua, told Ernst that she has been living with HIV since 1996, and worried the changes proposed in the bill could make her ongoing treatment unaffordable. Before treatment breakthroughs, Haught said, she felt like she was living to die. Now, ‘I am living to live, but I need access to my care, treatment and lifesaving medications,’ she said. ‘I will die without them.’ Haught, who buys her insurance on Iowa’s individual market and said she was arrested outside Ernst’s Washington, D.C., office earlier this year during a health care protest, called Graham-Cassidy ‘one of worst versions of the health care repeal that has come out.’ ‘We will not let this tea-party GOP kill us now without a fight,’ she told Ernst. ‘Kill the bill. Don’t kill us.’”

Globe Gazette: Ernst shifts health care blame on Democrats at Charles City town hall: “Ethically, do you see it as your responsibility to ensure the state cannot offer a waiver so that they abandon me?”

“Those in attendance, however, continued to express doubts with the Graham-Cassidy bill, including Laura Wright of Decorah, who fears she will lose valuable medication under the new plan. ‘If I don’t have that, I become a cripple at 55 or 60,’ she told Ernst through tears. ‘Ethically, do you see it as your responsibility to ensure the state cannot offer a waiver so that they abandon me?’ She added that rural areas are at risk of losing a significant part of Medicaid funds through the new bill.”

KCRG: Ernst hears harsh words on health care at town hall meeting: “You have a voice, Senator. You have a voice. Show your backbone”

“Ernst invited her constituents to bring their opinions about the latest health care bill and other topics. Several of those in attendance didn’t hold back. ‘Senator Grassley said last night he couldn’t name anything good in it but he was going to vote for it because politically he had promised. That’s a piss-poor way to run a government,’ said one attendee. ‘You have a voice, Senator. You have a voice. Show your backbone,’ said another.”

protectourcare
In Uncategorized

Don’t Forget Medicaid…

In all the discussion about Graham-Cassidy imposing an age tax and destroying protection from discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, don’t forget Graham-Cassidy destroys Medicaid expansion and undermines the core Medicaid program. Below is a Kaiser analysis on how Graham-Cassidy repeal puts Medicaid at risk and linked here is a Washington Post piece on how screwed Medicaid expansion states are under Graham-Cassidy.

And last night on All in with Chris Hayes, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) explained why Republicans are going after the core Medicaid program in their zeal to repeal even though it was well established before passage of the Affordable Care Act.

5 Ways the Graham-Cassidy Proposal Puts Medicaid Coverage At Risk

Sep 19, 2017

The Graham-Cassidy proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is reviving the federal health reform debate and could come up for a vote in the Senate in the next two weeks before the budget reconciliation authority expires on September 30. The Graham-Cassidy proposal goes beyond the American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the House in May and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) that failed in the Senate in July. The Graham-Cassidy proposal revamps and cuts Medicaid, redistributes federal funds across states, and eliminates coverage for millions of poor Americans as described below:

  1. Ends federal funding for current ACA coverage and partially replaces that funding with a block grant that expires after 2026. The proposal ends both the authority to cover childless adults and funding for the ACA Medicaid expansion that covers 15 million adults. Under Graham-Cassidy, a new block grant, the “Market-Based Health Care Grant Program,” combines federal funds for the ACA Medicaid expansion, premium and cost sharing subsidies in the Marketplace, and states’ Basic Health Plans for 2020–2026. Capped nationally, the block grant would be lower than ACA spending under current law and would end after 2026. States would need to replace federal dollars or roll back coverage. Neither the AHCA nor the BCRA included expiration dates for ACA-related federal funds or eliminated the ability for states to cover childless adults through Medicaid.
  2. Massively redistributes federal funding from Medicaid expansion states to non-expansion states through the block grant program penalizing states that broadened coverage. In 2020, block grant funds would be distributed based on federal spending in states for ACA Medicaid and Marketplace coverage. By 2026, funding would go to states according to the states’ portion of the population with incomes between 50% and 138% of poverty; the new allocation is phased in over the 2021–2025 period. The Secretary has the authority to make other adjustments to the allocation. This allocation would result in a large redistribution of ACA funding by 2026, away from states that adopted the Medicaid expansion and redirecting funding to states that did not. No funding is provided beyond 2026.
  3. Prohibits Medicaid coverage for childless adults and allows states to use limited block grant funds to purchase private coverage for traditional Medicaid populations. States can use funds under the block grant to provide tax credits and/or cost-sharing reductions for individual market coverage, make direct payments to providers, or provide coverage for traditional Medicaid populations through private insurance. The proposal limits the amount of block grant funds that a state could use for traditional Medicaid populations to 15% of its allotment (or 20% under a special waiver). These limits would shift coverage and funds for many low-income adults from Medicaid to individual market coverage. Under current law, 60% of federal ACA coverage funding is currently for the Medicaid expansion (covering parents and childless adults). Medicaid coverage is typically more comprehensive, less expensive and has more financial protections compared to private insurance. The proposal also allows states to roll back individual market protections related to premium pricing, including allowing premium rating based on health status, and benefits currently in the ACA.
  4. Caps and redistributes federal funds to states for the traditional Medicaid program for more than 60 million low-income children, parents, people with disabilities and the elderly. Similar to the BCRA and AHCA, the proposal establishes a Medicaid per enrollee cap as the default for federal financing based on a complicated formula tied to different inflation rates. As a result, federal Medicaid financing would grow more slowly than estimates under current law. In addition to overall spending limits, similar to the BCRA, the proposal would give the HHS Secretary discretion to further redistribute capped federal funds across states by making adjustments to states with high or low per enrollee spending.
  5. Eliminates federal funding for states to cover Medicaid family planning at Planned Parenthood clinics for one year. Additional funding restrictions include limits on states’ ability to use provider tax revenue to finance Medicaid as well as the termination of the enhanced match for the Community First Choice attendant care program for seniors and people with disabilities. Enrollment barriers include the option for states to condition Medicaid eligibility on a work requirement and to conduct more frequent redeterminations.

Much is at stake for low-income Americans and states in the Graham-Cassidy proposal. The recent debate over the AHCA and the BCRA has shown the difficulty of making major changes that affect coverage for over 70 million Americans and reduce federal funding for Medicaid. Medicaid has broad support and majorities across political parties say Medicaid is working well. More than half of the states have a strong stake in continuing the ACA Medicaid expansion as it has provided coverage to millions of low-income residents, reduced the uninsured and produced net fiscal benefits to states. Graham-Cassidy prohibits states from using Medicaid to provide coverage to childless adults. With regard to Medicaid financing changes, caps on federal funding could shift costs to states and result in less fiscal flexibility for states. States with challenging demographics (like an aging population), high health care needs (like those hardest hit by the opioid epidemic), high cost markets or states that operate efficient programs may have the hardest time responding to federal caps on Medicaid spending. Faced with substantially reduced federal funding, states would face difficult choices: raise revenue, reduce spending in other areas, or cut Medicaid provider payments, optional benefits, and/or optional coverage groups.

protectourcare
In Uncategorized

Graham-Cassidy-Heller Bill Would End Medicaid As We Know It

Latest GOP Repeal Bill Hurts Seniors, Kids, People with Disabilities, Working Families, and Leaves States in Crisis on Their Own

The GOP has been consistent this year in its crusade against Medicaid, and the latest repeal proposal from Senate Republicans is no different. The Graham-Cassidy-Heller bill would end Medicaid as we know it, hurting seniors, children, people with disabilities, and working families, breaking key promises that the bill’s sponsors have made.

The Graham-Cassidy-Heller proposal would destroy Medicaid, turning it into a shrinking block grant that would not be able to support the nearly 75 million Americans who rely on Medicaid for their health care.

Here’s a look at just how damaging the latest repeal proposal is for Medicaid:

Graham-Cassidy-Heller would force states to raise taxes or make draconian cuts to schools and other priorities, and states would be left on their own when they need help the most in times of crisis and natural disasters.

  • The severe cuts to Medicaid would blow a hole in state budgets, forcing states to either raise people’s taxes or make draconian cuts to schools or other vital programs.
  • States and people would be left on their own at risk during natural disasters. Per capita caps would mean states facing higher costs due to increased health care needs during an epidemic like the Zika virus, or following a natural disaster like Hurricanes Harvey and Irma would be left on their own.
  • Medicaid funding helps schools support children with disabilities get individualized attention and therapy, and helps eligible kids get vision and dental screenings. Severe cuts to school funding will affect not only students on Medicaid, but will trigger a domino effect that leads to across-the-board education cuts, threatening extra-curricular programs and forcing schools to expand class sizes.

End Medicaid expansion, which has extended coverage to over 14 million low-income adults.

  • Graham-Cassidy-Heller ends the Medicaid expansion entirely, replacing it with a small, temporary block grant, and would threaten the health coverage of over 14 million Americans who currently rely on the program
  • The block grant would then disappear altogether after 2026, repealing the program altogether despite the major coverage gains as a direct result of allowing states to expand Medicaid.

Disproportionately harm states that chose to expand Medicaid coverage, like Alaska, Louisiana and Nevada.

  • States that expanded Medicaid are seeing record low uninsured rates according to the latest Census data. Under Graham-Cassidy-Heller, these same states would see the most significant cuts in federal funding.
  • Louisiana, for example, had an uninsured rate of nearly 15 percent in 2014, and after expanding Medicaid that number dropped 5 points to just 10 percent in 2016.
  • Louisiana would lose more than $3.2 billion in federal funding under Graham-Cassidy-Heller.
  • Sen. Cassidy’s own bill would wipe out the recent progress made due to Medicaid expansion, and cost his state more than $3 billion.
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