On Eve of Presidential Candidate Debate, Report Shows Health Care in New Hampshire Would Be Devastated by Proposed Republican Budget

New Hampshire Seniors, People with Disabilities, Children, and Small Businesses Would Be Hit Hard

Washington, D.C.—On the eve of a debate involving most of the leading Republican presidential candidates, a report released today shows that the Republican budget proposal, introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan and supported by all but four House Republicans and all but five Republican Senators, would have devastating effects on health coverage and costs for people in New Hampshire.

The report, by the consumer health organization Families USA, shows that the Republican budget proposal’s restructuring and cutbacks of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would especially harm New Hampshire’s seniors, people with disabilities, children, and small businesses. The report’s findings include the following:

• More than 41,000 New Hampshire seniors and people with disabilities who receive nursing home and other long-term care through Medicaid would be at risk of losing that care;
  
  
• More than 14,000 New Hampshire seniors would lose the 50 percent discounts they currently receive on the brand-name prescription drugs they purchase;
  
  
• About 87,000 New Hampshire children would be at risk of losing health coverage;
  
  
• Almost 20,000 small businesses in New Hampshire—80 percent of small businesses in the state—would lose eligibility for tax credits that help with the cost of health coverage for their employees; and
  
  
• Approximately 95,000 New Hampshire residents who are projected to gain health coverage through the Affordable Care Act would remain uninsured.

These changes are in addition to the losses future seniors would experience by the controversial proposal to convert Medicare to a voucher-type system. The Families USA analysis focuses mainly on other health program changes proposed in the Republican budget, including immediate losses for seniors in Medicare, as well as restructuring and cutbacks to the Medicaid program and the Affordable Care Act.

For example, the Republican budget proposal would convert Medicaid to a block grant program with considerably reduced funding to the states, reaching a cutback of 33 percent in 10 years. Over the course of those 10 years, federal funding for state Medicaid programs across the country would be cut by $771 billion.

Since Medicaid is the largest payer for nursing home and other long-term care, New Hampshire’s seniors and people with disabilities would be at great risk. Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of New Hampshire’s seniors and people with disabilities who live in nursing homes rely on Medicaid to pay for their care.

“The upcoming debate offers presidential candidates an opportunity to describe how their own plans would avoid the health coverage and cost devastation that would be experienced by people in New Hampshire under the Republican budget proposal,” said Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA.

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

1201 New York Avenue NW, Suite 1100 · Washington, DC 20005
202-628-3030 · Email: info@familiesusa.org · www.familiesusa.org