WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) says House Republicans are proposing “catastrophic cuts” to federal Medicaid funding that goes to states to help provide health coverage.  In Rhode Island, the federal-state program pays for about 1 in 4 Rhode Islanders’ health care and has become a key underpinning of the state’s economy.

On Sunday night, House Republicans released a plan they worked out behind closed doors to slash Medicaid.  The New York Times reports the House Republican plan “would cause millions of poor Americans to lose Medicaid health coverage and millions more to pay higher fees when they go to the doctor.” 

Senator Reed pointed out that the so-called savings in the bill will simply increase costs on families, communities, and states – stripping health care away from millions in order to give tax breaks to billionaires.

“The Republican prescription is less health care for vulnerable Americans, more people without insurance seeking uncompensated emergency room care at higher costs, and higher prices and premiums for those who still have health insurance and must pay more out of pocket.  I strongly oppose the Republican plan to strip health care from millions of people, adding stress to seniors on fixed incomes and Americans with disabilities who can’t work,” said Senator Reed. “The Republican plan would leave nursing home residents, children, our economy, and health care system worse off.  I will work hard to prevent these catastrophic cuts to Medicaid.”

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold a mark-up Tuesday of its share of the budget reconciliation package that Republicans are using to pass President Trump’s billionaire-first tax agenda.  They plan to cut $880 billion over a decade to help offset the increased deficit spending that would result from tax giveaways to special interests and the wealthiest Americans. 

Nationwide, Medicaid provides health care services for more than 72 million people. Among those who qualify for care are the low-income elderly, those with disabilities, and about half of all children.  Approximately 44 percent of births in Rhode Island are covered by Medicaid.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) -- the nonpartisan federal agency that advises Congress -- the Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans’ bill will cut at least $715 billion and result in at least 8.6 million more Americans going uninsured as a result of cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

In an additional analysis, CBO determined 5.1 million more Americans will go uninsured as a result of Republicans refusing to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, as well as full implementation of the Marketplace Integrity Rule.

Reed notes that the Republican cuts to Medicaid would also hit doctors, hospitals, and the economy hard, and could cause hospital closures in many communities or exacerbate a shortage of health care providers.

Reed also called out Republicans over phony assertions that eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse and adding a work requirement for Medicaid recipients would achieve the reductions in spending they seek.  Adding a work requirement’s administrative oversight adds to the very spending that cost-cutters pledged to eliminate, according to the health research non-profit KFF.

“This all comes down to numbers and priorities: Republicans’ number one priority is a bigger tax cut for the wealthy at the expense of vulnerable people.  Under the Trump plan, if you look at the numbers, the bottom 20 percent of households by income lose their health care in exchange for around $130 a year.  Meanwhile, the transfer in wealth goes to those in the top tax brackets, with the super-rich netting an extra $275,000 annually.  The vast majority of Americans want to ensure a sound health care system for all, but the Trump priority is to jam through a bigger tax cut for billionaires, even if it breaks the health care system and denies coverage to millions of Americans.”