Bipartisan Governors’ Health Priorities Conflict with GOP Bill’s Key Provisions
The
The NGA Network, a bipartisan working group focusing on federal health reforms, includes 13 governors: Republicans
The governors stress their opposition to federal Medicaid cuts and cost shifts to states, call for maintaining current federal funding for the ACA's Medicaid expansion, and emphasize that tax credits that help people afford private coverage should be adequate for lower-income people and adjust for income, age, and geographic variation in costs.
Today's release follows Friday's bipartisan letter to
Noting that "Medicaid provisions included in this bill are particularly problematic," the governors urged
The new NGA Network document addresses:
* Medicaid cuts and cost shifts to states. The governors write, "Supporting vulnerable populations is a shared responsibility between the federal government and states. It is critical that
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* Medicaid expansion. The governors write, "for the majority of the Network states that expanded Medicaid, maintaining coverage for those populations at the federal matching rate under current law is of critical importance [emphasis added]."
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* Financial help for people buying individual-market coverage. The governors write, "To have adequate participation in the market, it is crucial that the coverage is affordable and that there is appropriate financial support for low-income individuals to purchase high-quality coverage. Advanceable and refundable premium tax credits should reflect income, age, and regional variation in costs with any federal legislative change. Tax credits should phase out gradually at higher income levels [emphasis added]."
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Like last week's governors' letter, the new NGA document urges that "prompt federal action" focus on "achiev[ing] short-term market stability and predictability" in the private insurance market. Specifically, the governors state: "the federal government should fully fund the cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) for the remainder of CY [calendar year] 2017 and CY 2018 and offer long-term certainty about the future of CSRs." They also recommend near-term action to create a federal reinsurance program.
Today's release and Friday's letter follow other recent statements from Republican governors criticizing the House-passed health bill and raising serious concerns about both the emerging
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It's not surprising that governors of both parties disagree with congressional Republican plans to repeal the ACA and radically restructure and cut federal Medicaid funding. They recognize that they and their states would have to grapple with the results: hundreds of billions of dollars in lost federal funding, historic increases in uninsured rates, and setbacks to efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, expand access to preventive care, and improve health care in rural areas.
Now, the question is whether congressional
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