Who and how many people do Medicaid cover?
Medicaid helps 21 %of Americans and 20.5 %of Massachusetts. This includes insurance application Children, the elderly, pregnant people, people with disabilities Low income.
In New England, four states, Maine, Road Island, Connecticut, and Vermont, have a higher proportion of residents registered in Medicaid than the national average.
Nearly two -thirds of the residents of the New England Nursing Home are registered in Medicaid, which offers benefits such as nursing home management and personal management services that are not covered by Medicare.
In all new England, Medicaid costs are unbalanced for the elderly and the disabled. However, the group consists of less than a third of the registrant. In Massachusetts, 29 %of the members are the elderly or the disabled, and according to the analysis of the KFF, 64 %of the expenditure is the group.
Medicaid Also, major insurance application sources for children; An average of 49 %of Medicaid registrants is children. They account for more than 40 % of registrants in New England and 43 % in Massachusetts.
What can you reduce Medicaid to New England?
The budget proposal that does not specify how much to cut in the program is left with this in the Lord. Experts said that the difficult decision for cuts is about cuts.
Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University, is a research professor at Georgetown University, who focuses on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act, “In many ways, these cuts are attractive to federal policymakers. Or Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University, focusing on Medicaid and Affordable Care Act, because it does not explicitly enact proposals including benefits or higher cost sharing premiums. “By default, the United States is forced to make political painful choices and politically painful choices.”
If federal funds are cut, the state can find other ways to expand medical insurance benefits, such as raising taxes or reducing other parts of budgets such as education.
In a statement about the world, the Governor of Maura Hilli said, “We must reject the shameful attack on the health and welfare of children, families and the elderly throughout Massachusetts and all over Korea.
“This budget resolution threatens the health care of 2 million Massachusetts residents, including almost half of our state and 70 %of residents of nursing homes. In addition, cuts to Medicaid will also cause additional burden on hospitals, nursing homes, home and community -based providers and community health centers. The provider must close the door or dismiss the staff, ”heley said.
Sarah Gordon, a co -director of the BU Medicaid Policy Laboratory at Boston University, Cheap First. ACA Qualification has expanded Up to 138 %of the federal poverty levels for almost all non -elderly adults with income. Those who apply to expansion are mainly laborer adults without children.
Gordon said, “Compared to children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with disabilities, the labor age population seems to be the most qualified,” Gordon said. “Of course, everyone deserves health insurance, but I think it can be a goal.”
In addition to narrowing qualifications, reducing Medicaid can also mean reducing benefits, and Park said it could have an unbalanced impact on the elderly and people with disabilities.
“We must cut many children who are not expensive, or reduce people with disabilities or disabled people who have serious health and long -term treatment demands.”
People in rural areas can be the most vulnerable. I rely more In Medicade. Medical service providers in the area can also suffer and face pain because they rely on Medicaid to compensate for the service.
“We can see more affected by people living in areas where there are few hospitals in rural areas with more rural areas,” he said.
Medicaid was established in 1965 with Medicare, which provides health insurance for people aged 65 or older and provides some people under 65 years of age who have a specific health.
The exact share of funding provided by the federal government Medicaid program Various But it is set to at least 50 %. The federal government pays 90 %of the cost of expansion of medicaid insurance according to ACA.
But before the ACA was passed in 2010, Massachusetts was already pioneering health care reforms. In 2006, Massachusetts passed law This provided universal health insurance to all residents and made free health insurance for those who earned up to 150 %of the poor.
Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, a core architect of reform in 2006, consulted with the Obama administration, which drafted ACA, and called the Federal bill a “less generous version of the Massachusetts Plan.”
After the ACA was implemented, Massachusetts maintained expanded benefits, but the costs were offset by the federal fund, Gruber said.
BIDEN administration Expansion of additional access to MedicaidThe state, including children, provided financial incentives to maintain Medicaid expansion.
Gruber said, “This helped people in the Lord once again. Because it made it cheaper, we still helped the country because the Fed was giving us money.
What is the cost of the New England and the federal government?
Currently, Massachusetts receives 50 cents in dollars from the federal government for MEDICAID registrants, and 90 cents for those who are qualified as ACA expansion. State officials are $ 13.9 billion in federal funds for the Lord’s Medicaid, known as Masshealth. According to civil servants, the Federal Fund is 60 %of the Masshealth budget.
In the 2023 fiscal year, the federal government paid $ 660 billion nationwide, and the state paid $ 274 billion. According to KFF.
What exactly does the Republican suggests?
The budget resolution of the house suggests cutting $ 880 million For the next 10 years in the federal program supervised by House Energy and Commerce Committee. The resolution does not specify how much it will be cut in the program, but experts say it will be. Almost impossible Reduce a large amount without touching Medicaid.
Experts say there are three main ways to save money. Imagine federal funds for Medicaid,,, Restrictions on the main amount that can impose taxes on medical providers to generate incomeAnd a rule to mandate the beneficiaries of Medicaid between 18 and 64 years old Meet the specific work requirements.
PARK said, “All of these suggestions move in the same direction, dramatically reducing the Medicaid program, and a significant cut that affects millions of beneficiaries, the elderly, the disabled, children, and pregnant women.
Emily spatz can be contacted at emily.spatz@globe.com. Follow her in X @emilymspatz. NEENA HAGEN can be contacted at neena.hagen@globe.com.
