GOP’s Medicaid overhaul would punish Minnesota for providing health care to undocumented immigrants

WASHINGTON House Republicans have targeted blue states that provide vitality care to undocumented immigrants by cutting Medicaid payments to those states in an effort to shrink the regime physical condition plan for the poor and disabled Measure circulated by the House Strength and Commerce Committee late Sunday would cut the share the federal cabinet gives Minnesota and other states including California Illinois and New York from to because these states offer robustness care coverage to undocumented immigrants This cut in federal money and other new restrictions proposed by the panel as part of a mega-budget bill will likely force states like Minnesota to revamp how they fund the joint federal-state Medicaid plan or cut benefits Gov Tim Walz s office and the Minnesota Department of Human Services did not have an immediate response to the proposed cut in the federal matching rate for those who have been able to enroll in Clinical Assistance through the Affordable Care Act s expansion of Medicaid The state s options include paring back eligibility reducing benefits ending coverage for undocumented immigrants or making up the loss with state funds I would hope Minnesota would implement the changes in a humane way declared Jonathan Watson CEO of Minnesota Neighborhood Wellness Centers He estimated the reduction in the federal matching rate would cost Minnesota more than million a year Robustness coverage of undocumented immigrants initiated in Minnesota on Jan through the MinnesotaCare project has been criticized by state GOP lawmakers because it is funded solely with state funds Federal law prohibits the use of Medicaid dollars on coverage of undocumented immigrants The Capacity and Commerce Committee was required to find billion in savings over years in the programs that come under its jurisdiction In its preliminary estimate the CBO determined that greater part of the savings would come from the panel s proposed changes to Medicaid which it noted would lower the federal leadership s spending on the activity to million The change in the reimbursement rates is just one change the committee has proposed to Medicaid House Republicans say the changes would root out fraud waste and abuse from the plan But the new restrictions on Medicaid proposed as part of President Donald Trump s big beautiful budget bill will development in the loss of Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans even as a pushback from moderate GOP lawmakers pared back certain initial proposals This is the largest Medicaid cut ever stated Laura Mortenson spokeswoman for the Minnesota Budget Project Mortenson reported more details of the plan would be made citizens when the House Capacity and Commerce Committee marks up its bill Tuesday afternoon Democrats on the panel will try to reverse several of the changes but they are in the minority If the panel votes out the bill which is expected the ordinance would go to the full U S House for a vote as part of the budget bill Working for robustness care About million Minnesotans or about of the state s population rely on Medicaid known in the state as Biological Assistance for their robustness care Democrats on Sunday issued preliminary estimates by the Congressional Budget Office CBO that determined more than million people would go uninsured if the changes to Medicaid become law One big impact on beneficiaries is a new work requirement that supporters say would lift low-income individuals out of poverty by motivating them to get jobs The CBO has estimated that requiring beneficiaries to work or assessment for at least hours a month could save over billion over the next decade by excluding more people from Medicaid so the executive won t have to pay for their medications and care Yet the Kaiser Family Foundation has determined that preponderance Medicaid recipients are already working full- or part-time and others are exempted from the work requirement because they have caregiving responsibilities illnesses or disabilities or are attending school David Hilden an internal medicine healthcare provider at Hennepin Fitness disclosed the scant states that imposed work requirements on Medicaid recipients did not development in an increase of employed beneficiaries It just did not work Hilden declared What did happen he declared is that a multitude of recipients could not keep up with the paperwork that revealed they had a job were looking for work or were part of an exempted category All it did was make people lose their coverage Hilden reported So work requirements which Hilden called disastrous are expected to reduce the number of recipients So is another change which would require Medicaid beneficiaries who earn more than the federal poverty limit around for a single person to pay higher co-payments for specialist visits The bill would also increase paperwork requirements allowing states to check the income and residency of certain beneficiaries more often and ending coverage for those who don t respond promptly The statute was panned by therapeutic groups and organizations that represent patients including the American Cancer Society which called the proposal catastrophic and alarming This is going to put area physical condition centers in a more perilous situation Watson commented He disclosed the state s society fitness centers receive about of their revenue from Medicaid The provision would also cut funding for groups that provide abortion services like Planned Parenthood and ban the use of Medicaid dollars for gender-affirming care for youth It would also reassess the way assets are determined to qualify patients for Medicaid-funded nursing home care and repeal Biden administration reforms for staffing at nursing homes The post GOP s Medicaid overhaul would punish Minnesota for providing vitality care to undocumented immigrants appeared first on MinnPost