Medicaid attacked

by Will Parry

          After encountering a firestorm of voter anger over their scheme to destroy Medicare by turning it into a voucher program, House Republicans are training their Congressional gun sights on a program that serves children and the poorest Americans:  Medicaid.

          Medicaid advocates expect the House Energy and Commerce Committee to move quickly on a bill that would repeal the vital “maintenance of effort” (MOE) requirement in the health care reform law.  The MOE provision blocks the states from cutting their Medicaid rolls before the establishment of health care exchanges in 2014.

          The Hill, a news service that summarizes activity in Congress, quoted both Bruce Lesley, president of the children’s advocacy group First Focus, and Director Ron Pollack of Families USA, as expressing deep concern over the threat to Medicaid.  “I’ve always worried that Medicare and Social Security would go off the table and Medicaid would the only thing left standing,” Lesley said.

          “More than $1.3 trillion of the savings in Representative Paul Ryan’s (R, Wisc.) budget proposal would come from Medicaid,” The Hill reported. “So far, those plans haven’t attracted the same political furor as the budget’s Medicare components.  Some Democrats have been blunt about the reason:  Seniors vote in large numbers, whereas Medicaid primarily serves children and the poor.”

          The Congressional Budget Office estimated that eliminating the MOE requirement would cut about 300,000, mostly children, from the program.

          Medicaid advocates are also concerned about a second proposal in the GOP budget, to convert federal Medicaid funding into block grants for the states.  First Focus and Families USA oppose both Republican proposals.  Either would be “all about rationing care and cutting people off of coverage,” Lesley told The Hill.

          Governors have lobbied for MOE repeal, contending that they cannot maintain their Medicaid enrollment without making major cuts in other areas.  Clearly, a major battle to save Medicaid’s integrity is  shaping up.