Republicans are working to design a solution to the health care problems their packaging creates. It is estimated that it has been said There will be 100.9 million people without health insurance exist Home version bill. Republican senators have The proposed steep reductionSome people say they have gone too far.
“Medicaid Senate cuts are much deeper than home cuts, and I think there is something wrong with that,” said GOP Senate Susan Collins.
Senators have been working behind closed doors to meet with Trump administration officials because they are rushing to finish their big bills before Presidential July 4 deadline. Most parcels, tax breaks and Support border security expendituresessentially drafted. However, cutting the size and scope of healthcare is one of the most serious problems remaining.
It is reminiscent of Trump’s first semester summer, in 2017, where Republicans worked to maintain campaign commitments to “abdicate and replace” Affordable Care Law or Obamacarejust seeing the Republican Party split on the prospect of Americans losing their health coverage. The legislation collapsed at that time. John McCain famously voted.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune Determined to avoid this result, stick to the schedule, and vote for the expected end of the weekend.
“It’s a good bill, and it will be a good bill for our country,” Thun said Wednesday, advocating for its potential to unlock economic growth and put money into people’s pockets.
There is always expectation that changes in federal health care programs, especially Medicaid, will be at the heart of the Republican program, a way to offset the cost of providing tax relief to millions of Americans. Without Congress’ actions, taxes will increase when the tax code expires next year.
The House bill generally receives about $1.5 trillion in savings, a large portion of which comes from changes in health care. Medicaid has expanded significantly in the 15 years since Obamacare was changed into law and now serves about 80 million Americans. Republicans say that’s too high and they want to reduce the plan to a smaller scale, mainly poor women and children.
house Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries It means Republicans “try to take health care from tens of millions of Americans.” Democrats unite against what they call “big and ugly bills.”
Even if most recipients are already working, most health care costs will come from the new 80-hour job requirements.
But another provision, that nearly all states levy provider taxes on hospitals and other states serving Medicaid patients, is particularly concerned about the potential cuts in rural hospitals.
“It will depend on whether we land the plane to a rural hospital,” Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.
States use tax collection as a way to help Medicaid, mainly by increasing the reimbursement they receive from the federal government. Critics denounced the system as a kind of “money laundering,” but nearly every state except Alaska uses it to help provide healthcare coverage.
this Bill of the House Provider taxes will be frozen at current levels, while the Senate proposal will go deeper by reducing the taxes some states are able to collect.
“I know states are addicted to this,” said Senator Roger Marshall, R-Kan. But he added: “Obviously, the provider tax needs to go away.”
But many Republican senators, as well as hospitals and other healthcare providers in their states, have raised serious concerns that provider tax changes will weaken rural hospitals.
The American Hospital Association said the cuts will not only affect those who receive health insurance through Medicaid, but will further make the emergency room “a family doctor for thousands of newly uninsured people.”
“What’s worse is that some hospitals, especially those in rural communities, may be forced to close completely,” said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the Hospital Group.
The American Catholic Health Association noted in its letter that Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for one in five people and nearly half of children.
“The proposed changes to Medicaid will have devastating consequences, especially for people in small towns and rural communities, which are often a major source of healthcare coverage,” said Mary Haddad, president and CEO of the organization.
To address this, the senators are considering establishing a rural hospital fund to help offset the lost Medicaid fund.
Republican senators circulated a proposal to pour $15 billion into a new rural hospital fund. But several senators say it’s too high, while others say it’s not enough. Collins proposed the fund to be $100 billion.
“It won’t be that big, but there will be a sum of funds,” Thun said.
Hawley, who has been the most outspoken about people who cut health care, said he was interested in rural hospital funds but needed to understand more about how it works.
He also raised concerns about the new $35 co-payment of $35 per service, which could be charged to Medicaid staff, the House and Senate version of the bill.
“It’s good to get a fund. It’s important, and take a step forward,” Hawley said. But he asked, “How does the fund allocate money? Who’s going to take it to the hospital? … Or is it just something that exists on paper?”
A new analysis by the White House Economic Advisory Board estimates that the program will reduce the deficit by as much as $2.3 trillion over a decade, which is significantly different from the assessments of other analyses. Instead, non-partisan Dynamic analysis of the Congressional Budget Office Among the House measures, the deficit is estimated to increase by $2.8 trillion over the next decade.
