Governors' Medicaid Proposal is a "Mixed Bag" of Good and Bad Recommendations

Today, Governors Mike Huckabee (R-AR) and Mark Warner (D-VA) are testifying before the Senate Finance Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the National Governors Association's (NGA) recommendations for changing the Medicaid program. The following is the statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA, about the NGA proposal:

"The new Medicaid proposal by the Governors is a mixed bag. It contains some helpful recommendations that could make the program more cost-effective. Some of the recommendations, however, would be very harmful to the 53 million seniors, children, and people with disabilities who depend on Medicaid as their health safety net.

"We applaud the proposed improvements aimed at decreasing the costs of prescription drugs that are purchased by Medicaid; those improvements are long overdue. We also believe that some other proposals such as those that would improve access to home- and community-based care and that encourage chronic care management could be beneficial to the Medicaid enrollees who are most in need of care.

"Unfortunately, the NGA recommendations also contain far-reaching structural changes that are very destructive. The proposal that would result in increased premiums, deductibles, and copayments could make health care services unaffordable for the Medicaid program's low-income population. The reduction in benefits could also put essential health services out of reach for low-income seniors, children, and people with disabilities.

"It makes no sense to enact structural changes to Medicaid at this time. Congress has placed the cart before the horse by requiring up to $10 billion in Medicaid cuts over the next five years before proposed policy changes are carefully examined. Budget savings or costs should follow good, carefully considered policy changes, not the reverse. The NGA proposals, therefore, should be carefully scrutinized in the course of a broader examination of the Medicaid program but should not be adopted in the context of achieving short-run budgetary savings."

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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.

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