Pennsylvania state elected officials concerned over potential cuts to Medicaid after budget resolution passes House
Congress is one step closer to passing a budget, but it is leaving some concerned about cuts that could be coming. One of the proposed cuts would be Medicaid.
Pennsylvania Senate Democrats are alarmed at the possibility of cutting anything to Medicaid while Senate Republicans are saying hold the phone here. Nothing is set in stone. Let's see how this plays out.
Multiple reports put the possible cuts to Medicaid in the neighborhood of $880 billion.
According to State Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa that will trickle down to the states. He said it could damage the reimbursement the state receives, causing the state to find money to cover the costs or make cuts in future fiscal years. Just for the rest of this fiscal year, he estimates it will cost the state $1 billion to cover the possible cuts.
"It would require us to redesign our whole Medicaid program moving forward," said Sen. Costa.
According to Senate Republican leadership, this is just a scare tactic by the Democrats.
They say we won't know the real scope of everything until a full budget is passed in DC.
President Trump when pressed today said no cuts will come to Medicaid – countering most reports on where money will be cut for this budget.
"I have said it so many times. You shouldn't be asking me that question. OK. This will not be read my lips. It won't be read my lips anymore. We're not going to touch it now. We are going to look for fraud," President Donald Trump said.
That's not cutting it for some state leaders. Senator Costa said cuts could force changes to coverage or some people may lose it. He added hospitals could be forking more money to pay for people who don't have insurance.
"At the end of the day the cost in the uncompensated care is going to come to them and it's going to be enormous coming to them," Sen. Costa said.
With the House signing off on the budget resolution, it must go to the U.S. Senate before heading to the President.
We reached out to both U.S. Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick. We have not heard back from either on this.
According to Governor Josh Shapiro, this budget resolution would cut health care coverage for 800,000 people in the state.
