Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As States Assess Fate Of Medicaid Expansion, Worries Grow 'Somebody Is Going To Lose'
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones took a hard-line stance this week against the Obamacare repeal House Republicans are staking out, saying it could reverse advances California has made under the Affordable Care Act and strip 5 million Californians of their health coverage. The American Health Care Act that some are referring to as 鈥淭rumpcare鈥 would gradually scale back federal dollars for Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, and eliminate funding for the program鈥檚 expansion under Obamacare that allowed low-income adults without children to qualify for coverage. (Hart, 3/10)
The GOP bill alters how Medicaid works, changing it from an open-ended entitlement program to one that is limited to a set amount per person each year, no matter if more people need help, or if costs go up.聽Policy analysts and advocates for numerous medical organizations project that cutting federal support will transfer the burden to the states, which will be faced with tough decisions among competing priorities. ... Gov. Wolf said last week that Pennsylvania would eventually lose $2 billion in federal funding for people who gained Medicaid coverage just since the ACA expanded the program. Harrisburg, which is already facing a $3 billion budget deficit, couldn鈥檛 possibly make up the difference, he said. (Sapatkin, 3/11)
The early prognosis for the Republican health-care plan in Washington state is gloomy if not grim. Unless state leaders come up with more than $1 billion a year in cuts or taxes, hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians, mostly low-income workers, would likely lose the coverage they gained under Obamacare.聽State and federal analysts are still modeling outcomes for the GOP bill unveiled last week, based on factors such as reduced federal support for the Medicaid expansion that gave 600,000 Washingtonians health insurance. (Young, 3/11)
In addition to the 656,744 low-income adults who have enrolled in Michigan鈥檚 expanded Medicaid plan since 2014聽鈥 dubbed Healthy Michigan 鈥 1.2 million children, 380,000 people with disabilities and 148,000 seniors get their health care coverage through Medicaid. The expansion proved to be controversial for the state, one of 32 in the nation that accepted federal Medicaid expansion funds. It took months and several votes to pass the plan, which Gov. Rick Snyder championed, in 2013. The traditional Medicaid program basically covered children, the elderly and people with disabilities. But the expansion brought insurance to low-income adults, many of whom hadn't been able to afford insurance. (Gray, 3/12)
Georgia Republicans are sharply divided over the GOP proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act that鈥檚 galloping through the U.S. House of Representatives, raising concerns about the lack of a cost estimate for the overhaul and its impact on the state鈥檚 budget as it moves through Capitol Hill. As House lawmakers prepare to vote on the sweeping rewrite of health care policy, at least two GOP congressmen from Georgia said they won鈥檛 support the measure in its current form. And Gov. Nathan Deal has raised concerns about how it will affect Georgia and other states that refused to expand Medicaid. (Bluestein, 3/13)
Ohio boasts聽that it manages Medicaid costs well, helping it serve more people for each tax dollar spent. But the Republican replacement for Obamacare would give Ohio too little money to do that, a study released Monday shows. The state would fall behind by $19 billion to $25.6 billion by 2025 because the new formula would not keep pace with cost increases, says the analysis by the Center for Community Solutions, a nonpartisan Cleveland-based think tank. (Koff, 3/13)
Some Florida Republicans want to transform the state's health care system by cutting out insurance companies that act as a middleman between patients and doctors and upending how the Medicaid system serves the poor. The proposal to change Florida health care, pushed by House Republicans, would offer the same model to those on Medicaid that would be used by those in the private market. The plan has three parts: a subscription-type service for patients to see primary care doctors; a health savings account for patients to pay cash for the majority of their needs; and insurance that will cover catastrophic illnesses that can cover a broad range of health issues from appendicitis to brain cancer. (Glorioso, 3/12)
