![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nebrisStates facing sudden drops in tax revenue amid the pandemic are announcing deep cuts to their Medicaid programs just as millions of newly jobless Americans are surging onto the rolls.
And state officials are worried that they’ll have to slash benefits for patients and payments to health providers in the safety net insurance program for the poor unless they get more federal aid.
State Medicaid programs in the last economic crisis cut everything from dental services to podiatry care — and reduced payments to hospitals and doctors in order to balance out spending on other needs like roads, schools and prisons. Medicaid officials warn the gutting could be far worse this time, because program enrollment has swelled in recent years largely due to Obamacare’s expansion.
The looming crisis facing Medicaid programs “is going to be the ’09 recession on steroids,” said Matt Salo, the head of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. “It’s going to hit hard, and it’s going to hit fast.”
Medicaid programs, among the largest budget items in most states, provide health insurance to roughly 70 million poor adults, children and people who have disabilities or are pregnant. The federal government on average pays roughly 60 percent of program costs, with poorer states receiving a higher share. States have the latitude to adjust benefits, payments to health care providers and eligibility requirements with oversight by the federal government.
Now, governors are turning to Congress for help as it weighs a new package to rescue state budgets battered by the pandemic. They’re asking lawmakers to provide a bigger boost to Medicaid payments and provide hundreds of billions of dollars in new aid to shore up state budgets.
Medicaid naturally faces heightened demand as economic conditions worsen. But that leaves states facing more need at the same time that they have less money.
“The cruel nature of the economic downturn is that at a time when you need a social safety net is also the time when government revenues shrink,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said Tuesday as he announced $210 million in cuts to his state’s Medicaid program in the next two months.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/states-cut-medicaid-millions-jobless-235509347.html
And state officials are worried that they’ll have to slash benefits for patients and payments to health providers in the safety net insurance program for the poor unless they get more federal aid.
State Medicaid programs in the last economic crisis cut everything from dental services to podiatry care — and reduced payments to hospitals and doctors in order to balance out spending on other needs like roads, schools and prisons. Medicaid officials warn the gutting could be far worse this time, because program enrollment has swelled in recent years largely due to Obamacare’s expansion.
The looming crisis facing Medicaid programs “is going to be the ’09 recession on steroids,” said Matt Salo, the head of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. “It’s going to hit hard, and it’s going to hit fast.”
Medicaid programs, among the largest budget items in most states, provide health insurance to roughly 70 million poor adults, children and people who have disabilities or are pregnant. The federal government on average pays roughly 60 percent of program costs, with poorer states receiving a higher share. States have the latitude to adjust benefits, payments to health care providers and eligibility requirements with oversight by the federal government.
Now, governors are turning to Congress for help as it weighs a new package to rescue state budgets battered by the pandemic. They’re asking lawmakers to provide a bigger boost to Medicaid payments and provide hundreds of billions of dollars in new aid to shore up state budgets.
Medicaid naturally faces heightened demand as economic conditions worsen. But that leaves states facing more need at the same time that they have less money.
“The cruel nature of the economic downturn is that at a time when you need a social safety net is also the time when government revenues shrink,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said Tuesday as he announced $210 million in cuts to his state’s Medicaid program in the next two months.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/states-cut-medicaid-millions-jobless-235509347.html