Tag: Medicaid

Trump White House blocks states from expanding Medicaid to fight coronavirus

AlterNet logoDespite pleas from states around the country, the Trump administration is still blocking them from using Medicaid more aggressively to combat coronavirus.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the administration’s decision runs contrary to decisions made by both Republican and Democratic White Houses.

“In previous emergencies, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the H1N1 flu outbreak, both Republican and Democratic administrations loosened Medicaid rules to empower states to meet surging needs,” the paper reports. “But months into the current global disease outbreak, the White House and senior federal health officials haven’t taken the necessary steps to give states simple pathways to fully leverage the mammoth safety net program to prevent a wider epidemic.” Continue reading.

Trump pledges support for health programs but his budget takes ‘legs out from underneath the system’

As President Trump stood before a joint session of Congress for his State of the Union address in February, he urged Republicans and Democrats alike to support the audacious goal of stopping the spread of HIV within a decade. “Together, we will defeat AIDS in America and beyond,” he declared.

The White House’s 2020 budget request, issued this week, does propose an additional $291 million as a down payment for a new HIV initiative. Yet the $4.7 trillion budget also calls for sharp spending reductions to Medicaid, the public insurance program for the poor on which more than 2 in 5 Americans with the virus depend.

Such a contradiction — giving while also taking away — runs through the budget arithmetic for many of the Trump administration’s health-care priorities. In addition to combating HIV, the president has taken aim at childhood cancer and the opioid crisis, but his budget would undermine all those efforts by shrinking the health infrastructure that people struggling with those issues rely on while throttling back national cancer research spending — even as it offers discrete pots of money for those causes, policymakers say.

View the complete March 14 article by Amy Goldstein, Laurie McGinley and Lena H. Sun on The Washington Post website here.

Medicaid rolls set to be slashed under Trump-approved work rules

Seema Verma, Head of the US Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Credit: Getty Images

The thousands of people who lost Medicaid coverage this month in Arkansas for not following newly implemented work requirements may be a sign of what’s to come in other GOP-led states.

Indiana and New Hampshire are slated to implement their Medicaid work requirements next year, and a slew of other states are awaiting approval from the Trump administration to do so.

Arkansas has served as a test case of sorts since it was the first state to implement work requirements, and this month it became the first state to kick off beneficiaries for not following them.

View the complete September 13 article by Jessie Hellmann on the Hill website here.

A Judge Blocked a Medicaid Work Requirement. The White House Is Undeterred.

The following article by Robert Pear was posted on the New York Times website August 11, 2018:

Trump administration officials say they will still allow states to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. Credit: Rick Bowmer, AP

WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials, whose push to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries was dealt a blow by a federal judge in June, say they have found a way around the ruling and will continue to allow states to put the restrictions in place.

The judge, James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court in Washington, stopped a Kentucky plan to introduce the work requirements after finding that the secretary of health and human services had failed to consider the state’s estimate that the new rules would cause 95,000 low-income people to lose Medicaid coverage. Limiting access to medical assistance does not promote the objectives of the Medicaid program, he said.

But administration officials said they could sidestep the ruling by providing a better explanation of the rationale for work requirements. The officials have a narrow reading of Judge Boasberg’s decision, saying he faulted them for failing to follow proper procedure. They can satisfy his concerns, they say, by compiling a fuller record and showing that they have thoroughly reviewed the evidence.

View the complete article here.

DNC on Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid

DNC Chair Tom Perez and DNC Seniors Council Chair Steve Regenstreif released the following statement celebrating the anniversary of Medicaid and Medicare:

“For over five decades, Medicaid and Medicare have been critical pillars of economic security for millions of American families. That’s why President Obama and Democrats strengthened these programs and expanded coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

“Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have tried to roll back all of the progress we’ve made, pushing policies that would gut Medicaid, send premiums skyrocketing, strip health care from millions, and take away protections for people with pre-existing conditions. And they’re using the Trump tax bill, which adds nearly $2 trillion to the deficit, as an excuse to make deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other vital programs.

“Democrats believe health care is a right for all, not a privilege for a wealthy few. That’s why our party led the fight to establish Medicaid and Medicare more than a half century ago. And we will continue to do everything in our power to protect these programs from Republican attacks, and strengthen them so every American has access to quality, affordable health care.”

How Trump may end up expanding Medicaid, whether he means to or not

The following article by Jeff Stein was posted on the Washington Post website January 28, 2018:

The Trump administration is calling Medicaid work requirements a positive “incentive” for beneficiaries, but critics say they’re a harmful double standard. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Republican lawmakers in a half-dozen states are launching fresh efforts to expand Medicaid, the nation’s health insurance program for the poor, as party holdouts who had blocked the expansion say they’re now open to it because of Trump administration guidelines allowing states to impose new requirements that program recipients work to get benefits.

In Utah, a Republican legislator working with the GOP governor says he hopes to pass a Medicaid expansion plan with work requirements within the year. In Idaho, a conservative lawmaker who steadfastly opposed Medicaid expansion in the past says the new requirements make him more open to the idea. And in Wyoming, a Republican senator who previously opposed expansion — a key part of President Barack Obama’s health-care law — says he’s ready to take another look at fellow Republicans’ expansion efforts in his state. Continue reading “How Trump may end up expanding Medicaid, whether he means to or not”

While you weren’t looking: 5 stories from the Trump administration that aren’t about “shitholes”

The following article by A.P. Joyce was posted on the mic.com website January 12, 2018:

Credit: Shutterstock

This week the media was roiled by the revelation that the president of the United States argued against accepting immigrants from what he reportedly called “shithole countries” in Central America, Africa and the Caribbean, arguing instead for more immigrants from countries like Norway.

But as the nation struggled to define what constitutes overt white nationalism, Trump’s cabinet continued to make drastic policy changes that will affect millions of Americans. Here’s what you might have missed. Continue reading “While you weren’t looking: 5 stories from the Trump administration that aren’t about “shitholes””

Trump administration opens door to let states impose Medicaid work requirements

The following article by Amy Goldstein was posted on the Washington Post website January 11, 2018:

Seema Verma, who leads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has pushed to allow states to link work requirements to Medicaid eligibility. (Pete Marovich/Bloomberg)

The Trump administration issued guidance to states early Thursday that will allow them to compel people to work or prepare for jobs in order to receive Medicaid for the first time in the half-century history of this pillar of the nation’s social safety net.

The letter to state Medicaid directors opens the door for states to cut off Medicaid benefits to Americans unless they have a job, are in school, are a caregiver, volunteer or participate in other approved forms of “community engagement” — an idea that some states had broached over the past several years but that the Obama administration had consistently rebuffed. Continue reading “Trump administration opens door to let states impose Medicaid work requirements”

Trump poised to take action on Medicaid work requirements

The following article by Peter Sullivan was posted on the Hill website January 5, 2018:

The Trump administration is preparing to release guidelines soon for requiring Medicaid recipients to work, according to sources familiar with the plans, a major shift in the 50-year-old program.

The guidelines will set the conditions for allowing states to add work requirements to their Medicaid programs for the first time, putting a conservative twist on the health insurance program for the poor.

Democrats are gearing up for a fight, likely including lawsuits, arguing the administration is trying to undermine ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion on its own after Congress failed to repeal the health-care law. Continue reading “Trump poised to take action on Medicaid work requirements”

As U.S. budget fight looms, Republicans flip their fiscal script

The following article by the Reuters Staff was posted on their website December 31, 2017:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of a conservative Republican faction in the U.S. Congress, who voted this month for a huge expansion of the national debt to pay for tax cuts, called himself a “fiscal conservative” on Sunday and urged budget restraint in 2018.

In keeping with a sharp pivot under way among Republicans, U.S. Representative Mark Meadows, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” drew a hard line on federal spending, which lawmakers are bracing to do battle over in January. Continue reading “As U.S. budget fight looms, Republicans flip their fiscal script”