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

WASHINGTON House Republicans have targeted blue states that provide fitness care to undocumented immigrants by cutting Medicaid payments to those states in an effort to shrink the executive wellness plan for the poor and disabled Regulation published by the House Potential and Commerce Committee late Sunday would cut the share the federal administration gives Minnesota and other states including California Illinois and New York from to because these states offer strength 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 effort 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 Curative 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 revealed Jonathan Watson CEO of Minnesota Neighborhood Fitness Centers He estimated the reduction in the federal matching rate would cost Minnesota more than million a year Wellbeing coverage of undocumented immigrants initiated in Minnesota on Jan through the MinnesotaCare plan 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 Potential 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 most of of the savings would come from the panel s proposed changes to Medicaid which it announced would lower the federal establishment s spending on the project 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 operation But the new restrictions on Medicaid proposed as part of President Donald Trump s big beautiful budget bill will aftermath in the loss of Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans even as a pushback from moderate GOP lawmakers pared back specific initial proposals This is the largest Medicaid cut ever noted Laura Mortenson spokeswoman for the Minnesota Budget Project Mortenson declared more details of the plan would be made community when the House Capacity and Commerce Committee marks up its bill Tuesday afternoon Democrats on the panel will try to reverse specific of the changes but they are in the minority If the panel votes out the bill which is expected the statute would go to the full U S House for a vote as part of the budget bill Working for strength care About million Minnesotans or about of the state s population rely on Medicaid known in the state as Clinical Assistance for their physical condition care Democrats on Sunday published 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 administration won t have to pay for their medications and care Yet the Kaiser Family Foundation has determined that the bulk 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 physician at Hennepin Soundness reported the minimal states that imposed work requirements on Medicaid recipients did not consequence in an increase of employed beneficiaries It just did not work Hilden commented What did happen he noted is that a great number of recipients could not keep up with the paperwork that evidenced 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 commented 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 expert 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 rule was panned by health groups and organizations that represent patients including the American Cancer Society which called the proposal catastrophic and alarming This is going to put locality healthcare centers in a more perilous situation Watson revealed He explained the state s group soundness centers receive about of their revenue from Medicaid The measure 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 robustness care to undocumented immigrants appeared first on MinnPost