Dear Congressman Arrington, Congressman Boyle, Senator Grassley and Senator Whitehouse:
On behalf of the millions of patients and consumers across the country who face serious, acute, and chronic health conditions, our organizations urge you to protect Medicaid next year, including as part of any budget reconciliation process. Any efforts to cut Medicaid, including through restructuring Medicaid’s current financing, making other federal funding cuts that shift costs to states, reducing eligibility or benefits, or adding barriers to coverage, would severely harm the people we represent and must be rejected.
In March 2017, our organizations agreed upon three overarching principles to guide any work to reform and improve the nation’s healthcare system. These principles state that: (1) healthcare should be accessible, meaning that coverage should be easy to understand and not pose a barrier to care; (2) healthcare should be affordable, enabling patients to access the treatments they need to live healthy and productive lives; and (3) healthcare must be adequate, meaning healthcare coverage should cover treatments patients need.
Our organizations are deeply concerned by policy proposals and comments in the media about plans to make severe cuts to the Medicaid program, including through the budget reconciliation process. Medicaid provides quality, affordable healthcare coverage for about 80 million people across the country, including low-income children and adults, pregnant individuals, people with disabilities, and seniors. Medicaid should not be used to pay for other legislative priorities.
Any changes to Medicaid’s financing structure (including but not limited to block grants and per capita caps), other policies that shift costs to states like cuts to the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP), cuts to eligibility and benefits, and the addition of any barriers to coverage like work reporting requirements and other policies that add red tape to enrollment would lead to coverage losses that severely harm many individuals fighting serious and chronic health conditions. For example, under Georgia’s work reporting requirement, just two percent of people in the coverage gap have been able to access coverage. It is essential that you protect patients by supporting the Medicaid program and its ability to provide quality, affordable care to tens of millions of people across the United States.
Our organizations once again urge you to reject any cuts to the Medicaid program, including as part of any budget reconciliation process. Thank you for your consideration.