GOP Senators struggle with how to cut medical funds without injuring hospitals and patients
Republicans are struggling to come up with solutions to the healthcare problems the package has created. Already, according to estimates In addition, 10.9 million people will be without health insurance Under House Pass Version of the bill. GOP Senators have Proposed sudden reductionssome say it’s going too far.
“The Medicaid Senate cuts are far deeper than house cuts, and I think that’s a problem,” said Maine GOP Sen. Susan Collins.
Senators are meeting closed doors and with officials from the Trump administration, hurrying to finish the big bill President’s July 4th deadline. Tax breaks and many packages Strengthened border security expendituresessentially drafted. However, the scale and scope of healthcare reductions is one of the toughest remaining issues.
It reminds me of Trump’s first summer during his tenure in 2017, when Republicans struggled to maintain their promise to “abolize and replace” their campaign. Affordable Care Methods, or Obama Carejust to see the fragments of the GOP around the prospect of Americans losing their health insurance. The law collapsed at the time. John McCain voted famously.
Senate Majority Leader John Tune He is determined to avoid that outcome, stick to his schedule and drive a vote where votes are expected by the end of the week.
“This is a good bill and it’s going to be great for our country,” Thune said Wednesday, defending the possibility of unlocking economic growth and putting money in people’s pockets.
Changes to federal health programs, particularly Medicaid, were always expected to be at the heart of the GOP package. This is a way to offset the cost of providing tax deductions to millions of Americans. Without action from Congress, taxes will rise next year when the current tax laws expire.
The House Passed Bill achieved a total savings of around $1.5 trillion. Most of this came from changes in healthcare. The Medicaid program has expanded dramatically in the 15 years since Obamacare became law, and now serves around 80 million Americans. Republicans say it’s too expensive and they want the program to go back to a smaller size that covers mostly poor women and children.
house Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the Democratic Party The Republican said he was “trying to take care of tens of millions of Americans.” Democrats are uniformly opposed to what they call “big and ugly bills.”
Much of the cost savings in healthcare comes from the new 80-hour work requirements for people receiving Medicaid benefits, despite most recipients already working.
However, another provision, the so-called provider tax that almost every state places to some extent on hospitals and others serving Medicaid patients, is particularly concerned about the potential cuts in rural hospitals.
R-Mo. Sen. Josh Hawley said several senators spoke at a private meeting Wednesday that showed they were not ready to start voting. “It depends on whether we land planes in rural hospitals,” he said.
The state imposes taxes as a way to help raise Medicaid funds, primarily by strengthening refunds received from the federal government. Critics denounce the system as a form of “laundry,” but almost every state except Alaska uses it to provide a healthcare range.
House Pass Invoice The Senate proposal freezes provider taxes at current levels by reducing taxes that some states can levie.
“I know the state is crazy about it,” said R-Kan Sen. Roger Marshall. However, he added that “evidently there needs to be no longer the provider tax.”
But many GOP senators, as well as state hospitals and other health care providers, have raised acute concerns that changes in provider tax systems will depress rural hospitals.
In a petition to lawmakers, the American Hospital Association said the cuts will not only affect those receiving health coverage through Medicaid, but will also make emergency rooms even more nervous as they will “become the family doctors of millions of uninsured people.”
“What’s worse, some hospitals, especially hospitals in rural communities, could be forced to close completely,” said Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the hospital group.
The American Catholic Health Association noted in its own letter that Medicaid provides health insurance coverage for one in five people, and almost half of its children.
“The proposed changes to Medicaid will have devastating consequences, particularly for people in small towns and rural communities, where Medicaid is often a major source of healthcare coverage,” said Sister Mary Haddad, president and CEO of the group.
The senator seeking to design a fix for the issue is considering creating a rural hospital fund to offset lost Medicaid money.
The GOP Senator has distributed proposals to pour $15 billion into establishing a new Rural Hospital Fund. But some senators said it was too expensive, while others said it was insufficient. Collins proposes setting the fund at $100 billion.
“It’s not that big, but I have the funds,” Thune said.
Holy, one of the most outspoken people about cutting healthcare, said he is interested in the Rural Hospital Fund but needs to hear more about how it works.
He also raised concerns about the new $35 for co-payments of $35 for services that could be charged to Medicaid people in both the House and Senate versions of the bill.
“It’s good to have the money. It’s important. It’s a step forward,” Holy said. But he asked: “How does the fund actually distribute the money? Who will get it to the hospital? Or will this be something that exists on paper?”
A new analysis from the White House Economic Advisors Council estimates the package will result in a deficit reduction of up to $2.3 trillion over a decade. This is a significantly different assessment from other analyses. In contrast, nonpartisan Dynamic analysis of the Congressional Budget Office Of the House Pass Measures, it is estimated that the deficit will increase by $2.8 trillion over the next decade.