Health secretary defends $1 trillion Medicaid cut
BRANCHBURG, N.J. — Cutting nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid will give states the freedom to tailor the program to suit their needs, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Sunday as he defended a narrowly passed House bill that seeks to undo parts of the health care law enacted by the previous administration.
The bill’s passage buoyed President Trump, but the measure appears headed for an overhaul in the Senate. Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s budget director, said on CBS that the House bill is unlikely to be the version that ultimately clears the Senate and ends up in front of the president.
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a moderate Republican whose vote will be critical in getting a bill to Trump’s desk, voiced concerns Sunday about potential higher costs for older people and those with pre-existing conditions. She said the House bill was difficult to assess because it passed without an updated analysis by the Congressional Budget Office on how the measure would affect health care costs and coverage. The CBO concluded after reviewing an earlier version of the House bill that an estimated 24 million consumers would lose coverage over 10 years.
Collins said on ABC’s “This Week” that she expected the Senate would come up with a “whole new fresh approach” to replacing the Affordable Care Act, enacted under President Barack Obama.
“The House bill is not going to come before us,” she said. “The Senate is starting from scratch. We’re going to draft our bill, and I’m convinced we will take the time to do it right.”
CBO’s analysis highlighted an $880 billion cut to Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor and disabled, which Price sought to cast as a way to give states more leeway to experiment with the program. The Obama-era law expanded Medicaid with extra payments to 31 states to cover more people. The House bill halts the expansion, in addition to cutting federal spending on the program.
But Price insisted on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, “There are no cuts to the Medicaid program,” adding that resources were being apportioned “in a way that allows states greater flexibility.”
The House bill, passed 217213, would end the health care law’s fines on people who don’t buy policies and erase its taxes on health industry businesses and higher-earning people. It would dilute consumer-friendly insurance coverage requirements, like prohibiting higher premiums for customers with pre-existing medical conditions. The measure would also water down the subsidies that help consumers afford health insurance. Major medical and other organizations oppose the House bill.