In releasing his budget today, Chairman Paul Ryan stated that a budget is a “means to an end”. After scanning his budget, you may wonder what drastic end he has in mind. Once again, his budget proposal is lopsided and would harm the most vulnerable while protecting the most secure.
His plan would radically alter Medicaid and shift costs to the states by changing Medicaid to a block grant and deeply slashing federal funding to help Americans meet their health care needs. The budget includes a plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act (while retaining the budget savings ushered in by the new law). It also turns Medicare into a privatized voucher program while protecting corporate tax breaks and extending tax cuts to the wealthy.
For children, this is an extraordinarily high stakes debate. Medicaid, together with CHIP, has been a core component of the nation’s success in covering children and the future of this program is key to the future of our nation’s children.
Medicaid, along with its companion program, CHIP, covers about one in three of America’s children and is largely responsible for the nation’s success in driving uninsured rates down to the lowest level on record. Many of these children are in low and moderate-income working families who lack access to affordable coverage through their parents’ jobs. They rely on Medicaid so their kids can stay healthy. They look to it for hearing tests and vision screenings so their children can grow and learn. In many families, Medicaid provides children with the medical care that they need so they can get treated for common medical conditions such as asthma and ADHD.
For special needs children, Medicaid is an essential life-line. While most children covered through Medicaid are quite healthy, a small number are some of the most vulnerable children in America – children living with autism, Downs Syndrome, cerebral palsy or other disabilities or those whose families have to turn to Medicaid to cover their cancer treatment because they don’t have the coverage or resources to battle the disease alone. For example, Medicaid pays for close to half of all NICU care and of all hospitalizations of infants born with birth defects. For many of these children, Medicaid offers lifesaving care, protects their families from bankruptcy due to high medical costs and allows them to be raised at home.
These are the issues that are at stake when the House Budget Committee marks up the Ryan plan tomorrow. Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray is also expected to release her budget tomorrow.
