Rep. Rokita Bill Empowers States, Eliminates Federal Medicaid Waste & Abuse

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 -- Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind. (4th CD), issued the following news release:

On Friday, Rep. Todd Rokita, Vice-Chairman of the House Budget Committee, reintroduced H.R. 352, the State Health Flexibility Act. Rokita's bill would reform the Medicaid program by block-granting the federal share of Medicaid funding to states, giving them the ability to create a program that will best treat their individual citizens and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. Medicaid block grants have been included in each of the past six House budgets. Rokita's bill currently has 28 cosponsors.

"Obamacare proved once again that doubling down on federal government-run healthcare will not solve the healthcare problems we face. That is why we will never strengthen and sustain Medicaid as long as the federal government oversees the program and dictates coverage.

"State and local leaders know the needs of the people in their states better than any Washington bureaucrat does, and my bill will empower them to craft plans that actually help raise people out of poverty instead of trapping them there. Americans need only look to the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0 for an example of how states can innovate and make Medicaid more efficient for those who need it."

The HIP 2.0 program launched in 2015 has expanded patient-centered access to health insurance, benefiting more than 350,000 low-income Hoosiers, without increasing cost to taxpayers.

This is the fourth Congress in which Rep. Rokita has introduced the State Health Flexibility Act, garnering 142 cosponsors since the 112th Congress. The Medicaid block grants proposal originated from a Republican Study Committee (RSC) initiative, and has had five years averaging 97 percent acceptance within the House Republican Caucus, with Vice President-elect Mike Pence recently voicing his support for the idea.

Medicaid block grants are also in House Republicans' Health Care Task Force report as part of their Better Way agenda.

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