Inside Health Policy

Hurricane Harvey is the kind of natural disaster opponents of Medicaid funding caps warned about, and they say it would be much more difficult to recover from Harvey if Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) got his wish for a Medicaid block grant.

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“Gov. Abbott has been a proponent of Medicaid block grants, which would be a disaster for Texas right now, as they would not get a dime in additional support,” said First Focus President Bruce Lesley.

“Under block grants, there’s a fixed amount of money, come hell, high water or hurricane,” said Andy Schneider, of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.

Anne Dunkelberg, associate director for the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin, TX, said state and federal officials have a lot of difficult work to do to help respond to the hurricane.

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