The GOP “Plan” For Medicaid: Why Block Grants To States Are a Bad Idea

An under-appreciated time bomb of block grants to states for Medicaid and other safety net programs is a constant thread within budget plans going forward in Congress and the Trump administration. This is likely to happen soon and have big impacts on the 75 million Americans now covered by Medicaid, many of whom gained this coverage as residents of the 31 states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

As we know, the GOP tax plan that will probably emerge will give huge benefits to corporations and the wealthiest top 10 percent at the expense of the middle class. It will increase the federal deficit by some $1.5 trillion and lead to an attempt to make up that deficit by cutbacks in such “entitlement” programs as Medicare and Medicaid. A convenient way of doing this for Medicaid will be to give block grants to states with the unproven assumption that they can better design and manage their Medicaid programs with more flexibility—and less federal money! If the costs of state programs exceed their budgets, it will be up to them to make up the difference… (Read the full post on TruthOut/BuzzFlash).

John Geyman, M.D. is the author of Common Sense about Health Care Reform in America (2017), and Crisis in U.S. Health Care: Corporate Power vs. The Common Good, and The Human Face of ObamaCare: Promises vs. Reality and What Comes Next

Visit John at: http://www.johngeymanmd.org