[NYAPRS Enews] NHeLP: The Fight To Save Medicaid This Summer

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NHeLP Reports About The Fight To Save Medicaid This Summer

 

The Latest News:

*         The Federal funding of Medicaid continues to be negotiated by
Democrats and Republicans in a contentious environment. Two significant
negotiations are taking place in small groups.  

o   The first, the Gang of Five (formerly the Gang of Six, until
Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn dropped out), continues to work,
though there are reports that negotiating has slowed or stopped in
Coburn's absense. The National Journal reported earlier in the week that
the Gang of Five is near agreement on a plan with "a ratio of roughly
3:1 spending cuts to revenue raises -- with one of the three coming from
savings and interest, putting the real ratio at about 2:1, the formula
put forward by the president's deficit-reduction panel in December." 

o   The second group, led by Vice President Biden, has stated that if
they do not have an agreement in principle by July 1 they will dissolve
their negotiating group. Significantly, there is word today that House
Majority Leader Eric Cantor has pulled himself out of the negotiations
and that Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl will do the same thing. The Biden
group appears to be near collapse.

*         The ticking clock looming in the background of all of these
discussions is the debt ceiling - it is estimated that the United States
will hit the debt ceiling in the first week of August, and failure to
raise the debt ceiling would lead to a historic credit default, and
according to numerous independent Federal financial authorities, severe
risks for a new recession. In the past weeks, there has been increased
discussion of a short-term (for example, 6-month) debt ceiling increase
deal to extend the negotiating time period. 

*         Clearly one of the major barriers to any budget deal being
achieved are the lines in the sand drawn by many politicians: In the
past week, some Republicans have said they would not support any deal
that included revenues (tax increases), and some Democrats have said
they would reject any deal tampering with Social Security or Medicare.  

*         A week ago House and Senate Democrats put forward proposals
which the CBO says will reduce the deficit by $112 billion by requiring
Medicare Part D drug companies to offer rebates to Medicare for drugs
used by dual eligibles and other low income Part D enrollees. This
approach has unsurprisingly received opposition from Republicans and the
pharmaceutical industry.

*         In the past week, Democrats have also begun addressing job
creation, suggesting the inclusion of a stimulus provision as part of
the debt deal - for example a payroll tax cut which they believe
Republicans might be hard-pressed to oppose.

*         Finally, there is a Senate Finance Committee hearing being
held today (June 23) on health care entitlement programs. It is expected
there will be significant disucssion about the efforts to cut Medicaid
and other programs at the hearing.

 

New Resources:

*         On Tuesday, our friends at Families USA released the first in
a series of state reports they will issue detailing the economic impact
of Medicaid cuts on a state-by-state basis. The first report issued
(Florida) is available at:
http://www.familiesusa.org/resources/newsroom/press-releases/2011-press-
releases/fl-medicaid-multiplier-report.html. This week Families USA will
release reports for CO, NM, VA, NC, WI, MN, NH, MI, OH, and NV. Next
week they will release reports for PA, MO, IA, and all the remaining
states.

*         The Democratic House Committe on Energy and Commerce Democrats
have released a district-by-district analysis of the impact of the
Republican Medicaid and Medicare proposal. The analysis is available at:
http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?q=page/district-by-d
istrict-impact-of-republican-medicare-plan-and-medicaid-cuts

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kilakwa.net/pipermail/nyaprs_kilakwa.net/attachments/20110624/6f724909/attachment.html>