An overlooked provision in House Republicans’ reconciliation package could wipe out half of the state’s budget for the Essential Plan, new estimates show.
The proposal, passed last week by the House Committee on Ways and Means, eliminates more than $7.5 billion in federal health insurance subsidies for certain lawfully present immigrants enrolled in the Essential Plan – 50% of the health insurance program’s federal funding, according to an estimate released Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The losses tack on to appraisals circulated by the Greater New York Hospital Association last week, which estimated that New York will have to pay roughly $2.8 billion out of its own pocket to provide state-only Medicaid coverage to an estimated 500,000 residents, as mandated by a 2001 court ruling. The combined losses in federal subsidies and new costs to the state result in a more than $10.3 billion blow from the Ways and Means provisions alone, which Hochul attributed to House Republicans’ “unrelenting” pursuits to slash social programs like Medicaid.
“I’ll say it again, no one state can backfill these massive cuts,” Hochul said in a statement Monday addressing the health provisions in the reconciliation package. “Our Republican congressional members must speak out and push back to protect New Yorkers now.”
Congressional Republicans are attempting to fast-track a massive legislative proposal to extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, with a goal to pass the legislation in the House before Memorial Day. The provisions moving forward in both the tax legislation and Medicaid bill are estimated to cost New York more than $13.5 billion, according to the state’s estimates.
The hospital industry has sounded the alarms about cuts to Medicaid and the Essential Plan. The Ways and Means Committee’s proposal alone could cost hospitals $1.3 billion per year, according to Ken Raske, president and CEO of the Greater New York Hospital Association.
After months of concerns about reducing Medicaid payments to hospitals in the reconciliation package, eliminating federal subsidies for immigrants under the Essential Plan is a bit of a “bait and switch,” said Michael Kinnucan, senior health adviser at the left-leaning think tank Fiscal Policy Institute.
“There was a narrative that we avoided the biggest cuts,” Kinnucan said, pointing to previous Medicaid proposals on the table that would have reduced Medicaid rates per capita through the federal medical assistance percentage, a formula that determines rates. “This is as bad for New York state as some of the worst proposals that were contemplated.”
Kinnucan that the funding losses stemming from the Ways and Means provision are seriously concerning because they will go into effect in January if the bill passes. “There isn’t a lot of time to adapt or change course.”
