Connecticut Democrats warn Congressional Medicaid plan will mean less coverage

Democrats said Monday proposed Medicaid changes by Congressional Republicans could result in many people in Connecticut losing their insurance.  

Democratic lawmakers have been warning for months about the possibility of massive cuts in federal aid for Medicaid.  

The House Energy and Commerce Committee presented a proposal earlier in the morning, giving insight into how they plan to achieve savings.  

“For the first time the text of a bill is on the committee’s website, it’s been posted, they’re going to vote on it [Tuesday],” Sen. Matt Lesser, (D-Middletown), said.  

The proposal does not contain some of Democrats’ worst fears, including an across the board cut, capping grants on a per-capita basis or other things that could have produced massive drops in aid.  

Republicans said that shows Democrats have been over exaggerating the threat and trying to find ways to blame President Donald Trump for Connecticut’s budget.  

“I don’t think it’s nearly as big as everyone’s been projecting,” Rep. Tammy Nuccio, (R-Tolland), said.  

Lesser and advocates said the proposal does include changes that could result in people losing their benefits. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that at least 8.4 million people would lose their coverage in 2036.  

It would mandate that states include work requirements for people who are able. It would also require copays.  

It would also require people to reapply for coverage every six months, not the yearly basis currently in place now.  

Pareesa Charmchi Goodwin, executive director for the Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health, said the work requirement can result in people losing their coverage if they lose their job.  

She also warned, though, that the additional requirements and semi-annual reapplications can lead to more people losing their coverage because of paperwork or procedural problems.  

“It is a lot of additional layers of administration and bureaucracy that are very difficult for people to navigate, and people end up losing benefits,” she said.  

Nuccio said Republicans have support those ideas, though, especially since Connecticut already offers aid for individuals who work and earn up to $85,000 to get insurance on their own.  

She also supported a proposed 10% penalty on states that offer Medicaid to undocumented immigrants, even if that is funded through state dollars.  

Connecticut offers Medicaid to undocumented immigrants under the age of 15. The Office of Policy and Management estiamtes the penalty would cost the state $690 million in Medicaid funding.  

 “When you have very, very supple benefits here for illegal immigrants in Connecticut, you’re just courting it and I think we have to prioritize our taxpayers at this time,” Nuccio said.  

The Connecticut Hospital Association, meanwhile, was concerned about the plan’s cap on reimbursements hospitals pay in taxes.  

Connecticut and other states tax hospitals to help pay for their share of Medicaid costs, and that federal reimbursement helps hospitals recoup that money.  

“What Congress is advancing by freezing all of that in place is really could be potentially harmful to our ability to finance the program,” CHA Vice President of Policy Paul Kidwell said.  

Nuccio, though, said Connecticut should have expected Republicans in Congress would look to halt the “money-laundering scheme.”  

She acknowledged Congress likely can’t just end the reimbursement because so many states use the same plan, but she said lawmakers should not have included an increase in their budget proposal.