Kaiser Health News
By: Phil Galewitz
The Republican party’s proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act intends to decrease expansion of Medicaid by decreasing federal funding, which could leave thousands of Americans without health care coverage. Not only that, but it could also diminish benefits for those who will be able to afford the new health care insurance.
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Children could fare badly in states that choose the block grant option, said Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. They would no longer be guaranteed access to a standard Medicaid benefit that Congress created in 1967 to ensure that children got access to preventive health care services, treatment and periodic screenings to catch developing health problems early, Alker said. “That means the governor and/or the state legislature would decide what benefits a child would get, not the child’s pediatrician,” she said.
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