GOP is planning to cut Medicaid, would save billions, but leave more uninsured, says Budget Office

Since Republicans are struggling in congress with options for reducing medicaid costs, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated That the leading plans that are being considered can result in considerable savings – but would also increase the share of Americans who are uninsured.

The office considered various options such as Republicans trying to find hundreds of billions of dollars in austerity cuts from Medicaid expenditure to compensate for the costs of tax reductions they hope to extend. But two leading proposals that would help achieve that goal would leave millions without health coverage, according to the estimates of the office.

An option, to Limit the way states use a tax mesh in law To increase federal expenditure on Medicaid, $ 668 billion would save, but 3.9 million more Americans without health insurance.

Another option, what that would do lower federal expenses On Medicaid beneficiaries who are part of the Obamacare extension of the program, the government would save $ 710 billion for more than ten years, but ensure that 2.4 million more people become uninsured.

But after a meeting with central Republican legislators on Tuesday, speaker Mike Johnson said he had excluded from reducing the financing formula for adults working on working age that are covered under the expansion of the affordable care act.

The budget agency released the estimates on Wednesday in a letter to Democratic legislators in the Senate Finance and House Energy and Commerce Committees, who had asked them from the office.

The budget blue pressure Accepted by the Republican majorities in both rooms, the Huiscommissie asks that supervision of Medicaid – that provides health coverage to around 72 million Americans who are poor or disabled – To find $ 880 billion in cutsA difficult target to achieve without taking up large programs.

The analysis considered a few other policy options: one would change the structure of Medicaid in which the program pays for medical accounts of beneficiaries in one in which states have received a fixed payment for each person. It would reduce the deficit of $ 662 billion and lead to 2.9 million more people without insurance.

Another proposal, which would enable states to require more paperwork from beneficiaries to register and remain registered, would save $ 162 billion and 600,000 more people would be uninsured.

In each scenario, the reductions of the Medicaid registration are greater than the expected increase in the number of people without insurance, because the budget office assumes that some people currently being covered under Medicaid would get a different way.

The analysis did not include one option Republicans seem to agree: a policy that would require certain Medicid professors to prove that they work a minimum number of hours to receive benefits. A previous budget office estimation suggested that such a policy could reduce federal expenses by around $ 100 billion, but that policy would probably overlap with the others, which means that the totals cannot be added together.

All calculations of the budget office believe that states would respond In changes in federal policy by making their own changes to their programs. The budget agency said that some states would stop covering those who are now covered under the expansion of the affordable care act. Others would reduce benefits or payments to medical healthcare providers. Some would make changes to other parts of their state budgets to make the difference.

Democratic leaders used the estimates assault The Republican plan.

“This analysis of the non -party, independent CBO is simple: the Republican Health Care Plan means advantage cuts and ended health insurance for millions of Americans counting on Medicaid,” said Senator Ron Wyden van Oregon, chairman of the financial committee.