WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. congressional Democrats are united in opposing Medicaid cuts but Democratic governors seem to favor them because of the savings to the states.
The Medicaid provisions in the budget-cutting bill narrowly passed the House last week. It would cut Medicaid spending by $48 billion over the next decade, reports The Washington Post. It will make it difficult for affluent seniors to transfer assets to relatives to plead poverty so they can get Medicaid to pay for nursing home stays.
The provisions would also save $2.4 billion over five years by allowing state governments to impose higher health insurance deductibles, co-payments and premiums on poor Medicaid recipients, the report said. An additional $3.9 billion would be saved by relaxing mandated preventive healthcare and screening of children and pregnant women.
All told, the changes would trim just 1.7 percent from Medicaid, which is expected to cost $2.8 trillion though 2015. But congressional Democrats have bitterly attacked them.
However, for Democratic governors, the soaring costs of Medicaid threaten to swamp state financing. Already, tens of thousands of people have been thrown off Medicaid rolls in states such as Tennessee and Missouri, and governors have warned that those cuts will grow deeper if they do not have the flexibility to trim benefits more rationally.
