Financing
Ok, all you Schoolhouse Rock fans, let’s sing along: “I’m just a Bill. Yes, I’m only a Bill. And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill. Well, it’s a long, long journey to the Capital City It’s a long, long wait while I’m sitting in committee.” That was true in 1976, when Bill made his debut. […]
By Emily Curran and Dania Palanker, originally posted on CHIRblog On February 7, the House Committee on Small Business held a hearing titled, “Reimagining the Health Care Marketplace for America’s Small Businesses,” to discuss the challenges small businesses are facing in the health insurance marketplaces and to offer potential solutions for the next phase of […]
While most press coverage has focused on repealing the Affordable Care Act and scaling back the Medicaid expansion for adults, a less well-known but extremely damaging effort under consideration by Congress would radically restructure Medicaid financing. Proposals would do this through a block grant or per capita cap designed to save money by limiting federal contributions. (Kaiser just put […]
More than one-third of America’s children rely on Medicaid for their health care, and more than half of Medicaid recipients are children. Medicaid’s existing structure has helped states respond to every economic downturn, natural disaster, epidemic or innovative treatment since the program was enacted in 1965. As recently as last year, Congress put forth proposals […]
A new fact sheet from the Commonwealth Fund, “Essential Facts About Health Reform Alternatives: Block Granting Medicaid,” makes compelling arguments about the dangers of block granting Medicaid. States would receive a fixed, preset amount of federal funds that would not change if the number of enrollees increase or if the cost of services rise. This […]
By Suzanne Wikle and Jessica Gehr of CLASP Congress is reportedly again considering proposals to change the fundamental structure of Medicaid, including by turning it into a block grant program or providing fixed allotments per recipient (“per capita caps”). Such proposals have been made repeatedly over the years, but consistently rejected. However, other programs with […]
