Affordable Care Act Changes May Cause Budget Issues for Next Governor

When drafts of the Republicans’ plan to repeal Obamacare first circulated in January, theCBO estimated that 18 million people would lose health insurance in the first year if major portions of the ACA were repealed. “I remain concerned, however, about the impact of the Medicaid changes on vulnerable populations, as well as the overall effect of the bill on access to affordable care”. He was heartened by the CBO projection that his plan would lower the federal budget deficit – at the expense of people losing their health insurance, and perhaps their lives, because they couldn’t afford medical care in the future under his fractured plan.

To preserve the Healthy Michigan Plan, however, residents might have to fork over more money in taxes to the state.

The least popular element was the provision created to encourage people to maintain health coverage: a 30% increase in premiums for people who allow their insurance to lapse in the year before. If the cost of health insurance is too great under the GOP plan, people might drop coverage and rely instead on emergency rooms.

“Six million of those would be people who would otherwise be buying individual insurance, 5 million would otherwise be covered by Medicaid and 2 million would lose employer-based coverage”.

Republicans want radical changes that will get the government out of the health care insurance racket.

In fact, House conservatives, backed by some of the right’s most influential lobbying groups, are threatening to derail the GOP replacement plan, arguing that it doesn’t go far enough to wipe out former President Barack Obama’s signature health law. If this bill as expected increases the number of uninsured in our state, our hospitals will face an even deeper unfunded obligation in caring for the uninsured.

Among those benefiting from Indiana’s expansion is Michael Boone, a 55-year-old cook from Gary.

“It’s going to be a huge rush – an inducement to drag in as many people as they can drag in, because the more they can drag in, the more federal dollars they can get”, he says. “We shouldn’t release the pressure on our elected officials until they answer: why does it have to be this way?”

Late last week President Trump suggested he would be open to negotiating. The number of uninsured would rise by 24 million by 2026, the CBO said, meaning that an estimated 52 million Americans would lack health insurance by that time. “But right now, I’m scared to death”. They have criticized the cost and demonized the federal government under Obama’s presidency for interfering in our healthcare system. Its true that those Republican policies would begin getting cheaper in 2023 (?!), but that will only happen because those plans are likely to be much skimpier and in terms of coverage might resemble a piece of swiss cheese.

A second Medicaid change would limit the federal aid per enrollee for everyone on Medicaid, with the caps varying by state.

A closer look at the issue in New Jersey.

“Colorado’s Medicaid program isn’t sustainable even at the current level, not without substantial tax increases”, Gorman said. “How would we also make our pension payment and pay for everything else?” And it would end the guarantee of coverage for people who receive care in nursing homes and those whose families depend on Medicaid to help seniors and people with disabilities live independently in their homes. GOP congressional leaders and the White House are furiously trying to assuage a range of concerns voiced by rank-and-file Republicans to ensure that they have the 216 votes needed for the bill to pass in the House.

“This certainly signals that there’s more work to be done”, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said in an interview Tuesday on CNN.

The bottom line for Ryan and his conservative cohorts – and a reason they’re cheering – almost a trillion dollars will be cut from Medicaid over a decade, leaving some 14 million people without coverage. Now the federal government offers a generous matching payment to states that expand their programs.

In early 2015, a woman from Grandview wrote to describe her dire situation after being forced onto the ACA exchange: “I was paying $231 a month for a policy that had a $500 deductible with a $10 co-pay”.