House Passes Sequester Replacement Bill – Could Impact Kids Health Care

By Jocelyn Guyer

Today the House of Representatives passed the “Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act”.  As we’ve mentioned before, the Senate is not planning to take up the measure and the Administration has issued a veto threat should the lopsided measure reach the President’s desk.  Despite those assurances, it is worth looking into the measure as it telegraphs the House position on future discussions about circumventing the sequestration triggered by last year’s bipartisan budget agreement.

CCF’s Martha Heberlein has put together a fact sheet on the measure and the impact it would have on health care coverage for children and families. Her brief identifies two provisions as posing the greatest threat to children’s health care coverage:

  • The repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s stability protections, also known as “maintenance-of-effort” provisions, that have helped children and families maintain access to affordable coverage and helped drive down the number of uninsured children to the lowest level on record.  If the stability provisions are rescinded, states could eliminate Medicaid for anyone who is covered at state option, as well as cut eligibility, shut down enrollment, or even abolish their CHIP programs, putting coverage at risk for more than a third of Medicaid and CHIP beneficiaries
  • The cancelation of an innovative, pay-for-performance program that has encouraged states to connect eligible children to coverage. In the states that received rewards in 2011, an additional 1.1 million kids were enrolled above expected levels. While the incentive payments do not necessarily fully explain this increase in enrollment, they certainly help to support the states in reaching these children.

In other words, the measure would weaken the cost-effective Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program that have worked so successfully to help uninsured children.  With one in five children living in poverty and many parents unable to find affordable health coverage for their families, it does not seem to be an ideal time to undermine cost-effective programs that have helped protect the health of our nation’s children.

Those supporting the cuts have justified their position by pointing to egregious examples of Medicaid “waste, fraud and abuse”. Program integrity is vitally important to all publicly funded programs whether it is health care providers, transportation firms or defense contractors that are receiving the funding.  We don’t walk away from defending our country or building roads because of a few bad actors.  Don’t you think the same should hold true for programs that help protect the health of our nation’s children and families?

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