the American Healthcare Act: Deep Dive Part 2 - Cancellation of Medicaid Expansion - Granite Grok

the American Healthcare Act: Deep Dive Part 2 – Cancellation of Medicaid Expansion

Medicaid Expansion – NH State Rep Joe LaChance, NH State Senator Jeb Bradley, NH State Senator Chuck Morse, and former NH State Senator (and present NH GOP Chair) Jeannie Forrester and a whole raft of others are NOW going to have a LOT of ‘splaining to do in how NH is going to institute whole raft of new taxes to pay for NH’s Medicaid Expansion.  I WARNED y’all when you first took us down this path the first go round that this was gonna happen. So, are the Republicans NOW going to institute either a State income or sales tax???

Starting at page 5

SEC. 112. REPEAL OF MEDICAID EXPANSION.

(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1902(a)(10)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)(10)(A)) is amended—

(1) in clause (i)(VIII), by inserting ‘‘at the option of a State,’’ after ‘‘January 1, 2014,’’; and
(2) in clause (ii)(XX), by inserting ‘‘and ending December 31, 2019,’’ after ‘‘2014,’’.

(b) TERMINATION OF EFMAP FOR NEW ACA EXPANSION ENROLLEES.—Section 1905 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d) is amended—

(1) in subsection (y)(1), in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘with respect to’’ and all that follows through ‘‘shall be’’ and inserting ‘‘with respect to amounts expended before January 1, 2020, by such State for medical assistance for newly eligible individuals described in subclause (VIII) of section 1902(a)(10)(A)(i) who are enrolled under the State plan (or a waiver of the plan) before such date and with respect to amounts expended after such date by such State for medical assistance for individuals described in such subclause who were enrolled under such plan (or waiver of such plan) as of December 31, 2019, and who do not have a break in eligibility for medical assistance under such State plan (or waiver) for more than one month after such date, shall be’’; and

(2) in subsection (z)(2)—

(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘medical assistance for individuals’’ and all that follows through ‘‘shall be’’ and inserting ‘‘amounts expended before January 1, 2020, by such State for medical assistance for individuals described in section 1902(a)(10)(A)(i)(VIII) who are nonpregnant childless adults with respect to whom the State may require enrollment in benchmark coverage under section 1937 and who are enrolled under the State plan (or a waiver of the plan) before such date and with respect to amounts expended after such date by such State for medical assistance for individuals described in such section, who are nonpregnant childless adults with respect to whom the State may require enrollment in benchmark coverage under section 1937, who were enrolled under such plan (or waiver of such plan) as of December 31, 2019, and who do not have a break in eligibility for medical assistance under such State plan (or waiver) for more than one month after such date, shall be’’ ; and

(B) in subparagraph (B)(ii)—(i) in subclause (III), by adding ‘‘and’’ at the end; and (ii) by striking subclauses (IV), (V), and (VI) and inserting the following new subclause:

‘‘(IV) 2017 and each subsequent year is 80 percent.’’. (c) SUNSET OF  ESSENTIAL HEALTH BENEFITS REQUIREMENT.—Section 1937(b)(5) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396u–7(b)(5)) is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘This paragraph shall not apply after December 31, 2019.’’.

Oh yeah, there’s a clause in there that “high dollar Lottery Winners” won’t be on the public dole.  My beef is NOT with the fact that those who have high payoffs get thrown off the rolls (and there is criteria over period of times with $80K, $90K, and 100K) but, once again, Congress will punt with a weaselly “

in accordance with such standards as may be specified by the Secretary, that the denial of eligibility of the individual would cause an undue medical or financial hardship as determined on the basis of criteria established by the Secretary.

No, no, no, no, and no.  Unacceptable – Republicans, DO YOUR JOB and not slough off your responsibility to the Executive Branch.  REMEMBER, you CAMPAIGNED on those over 2,000 references of “the Secretary shall” in Obamacare – WHY are you doing it NOW?

Now, in full disclosure, I am going to have to reference back to the original bill and see what the actual ramifications are but it is clear that the bill is going to put a lid on it.  Which means this – WHERE is NH going to get all that extra money that the Feds are no longer going to supply?  After all, “and each subsequent year is 80 percent.’” is a real downer for a plan that was predicated on a whole lot more than that.  Jeb?  Shawn?  Chuck?  Chris?  Where’s it going to come from?

This is a really BAD I told you so, but a whole lotta of us have said “At some point, you run out of other peoples’ money” – your tab just came due.  How’s that slap in the face doing, eh?  Now you just look like the economic jerks we’ve been saying you are.

So, what’s Plan B, C, D, and E are?

So what’s the choice gonna be: tell people that they no longer have it (taking away a brand new EXPENSIVE entitlement) or telling the rest of us, already struggling to pay our own medical bills, to pony up even MORE????

Which political group do you fear most – that’s all you’re gonna care about, right?  Stick with your base and shrink the entitlement or defy your base for the money?

As the Knight Templar said in Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail: Choose wisely.

But, knowing what they’ve already done, we’ll probably hear that other phrase: He choose poorly.

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