The Associated Press
By: Barbara Rodriguez
Iowa is seeking permission from President Donald Trump’s administration to cut a key benefit for all its Medicaid recipients, a move that could foreshadow other state-level efforts to change the safety net program after Congress repeatedly failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Federal health officials could decide soon whether to back Iowa’s proposal, which would cut retroactive payments for poor or disabled residents for medical needs incurred up to three months before they registered for or re-enrolled in Medicaid. The state wants a decision by Oct. 1, though such a timeline appears unlikely.
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Joan Alker, the director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, said states have traditionally sought waivers to expand Medicaid or change the way services are delivered. She said the latest wave of requests is troublesome because it adds barriers she believes could lead to fewer people getting coverage.
“If you limit coverage, people’s health care needs don’t go away,” she said. “Those costs are going to be absorbed in the system in some way.”
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