United Spinal Association is urging stakeholders to act swiftly to prevent sweeping Medicaid cuts that are part of the Trump administration’s so-called “one big, beautiful bill” that advanced out of the budget committee on Sunday night, May 18, according to a report from PBS.
The association said in a May 16 bulletin that the bill as it now stands “would cut $715 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It would do this by putting limits on how states can raise revenue to pay for Medicaid, as well as creating burdensome and intrusive paperwork requirements to maintain eligibility.”
The Center for American Progress (CAP), a nonpartisan policy organization, added on May 16 that the CBO said the Medicaid cuts currently represented in the bill would cause at least 10.3 million people to lose Medicaid coverage.
“The bill, as currently written, would punish Medicaid recipients who are unable to comply with strict work reporting requirements and redetermination reviews, risking coverage loss for procedural reasons,” the CAP report said. “It also would block recent federal rules designed to make Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) applications simpler and more accessible for eligible individuals, primarily children, older people, and people with disabilities. All of these things would increase the costs to administer Medicaid and CHIP.
“At the same time, states would be prohibited from creating new or increasing existing taxes on health-care providers to help finance their share of Medicaid program costs, making it more difficult for states to sustain Medicaid. As a result, states would have to look at three different strategies: raising taxes, limiting coverage, or reducing or eliminating vital benefits that are not explicitly required by federal law.”
The past as precedent
Reporting from KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation) showed that after Medicaid matching funds from the 2009 recession stimulus package expired, some states cut back on Medicaid funding for a wide range of services, including occupational and physical therapy, speech therapy, and certain durable medical equipment, “all of which are primarily utilized by older adults and people with disabilities,” CAP said. “This history makes clear that any federal cuts to Medicaid will disproportionately affect disabled and older people.”
United Spinal agreed.
“We want to be clear: Despite the rhetoric from House Republicans that this bill would exempt people with disabilities from cuts, the limits they are placing on how states can pay for Medicaid guarantee that states will cut Medicaid services for people with disabilities,” the association said. “This includes our home and community-based services that keep us in our homes and out of nursing homes.
“For many of us, Medicaid is absolutely a matter of life and death because it is the only program that can meet our needs. The changes that have been proposed harm those of us with disabilities, those who are older, or who have lower incomes. Family care support professionals, children, and direct care workers are also harmed.”
United Spinal has set up an advocacy page so stakeholders can reach out to their members of Congress and senators. “Medicaid enables our community members to go to work and to care for their loved ones,” the pre-written letter said. “It is critical not only as primary coverage for health care, but also the primary payer for long-term services and supports that support people with disabilities. It is our community’s lifeline, and the cuts that have been proposed would harm millions of Americans.”
“Deep cuts to Medicaid are currently being rushed through Congress with barely any debate, and no hearings to hear testimony from Americans who would be harmed by this proposal,” United Spinal said. “The time to act is now. We need to let our members of Congress know that every day, families and individuals depend on Medicaid as a lifeline for our health care, our personal care, and our independence to work, pay taxes, and be a part of our communities.”
