
Rep. Brittney Pettersen (D-CO) held back tears while discussing the “Big, Beautiful Bill” currently going through the House of Representatives in a Wednesday social media post.
“Hi everybody, I lost my voice. We were forced back here, took a red-eye flight, haven’t slept,” Rep. Pettersen began, standing in the entrance to the Capitol building.
Rep. Pettersen claimed the “disastrous budget proposal,” if passed, will “decimate our rural hospitals, healthcare that families, millions of families, across the US rely on, and increase costs for all of us in the private insurance market, when we have this much uncompensated care.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Senate version of the bill would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $1 trillion and increase the number of uninsured people by 11.8 million over the next decade. “It’s hard to hold back the tears with how bad this bill really is, the impact that it will make in Colorado, and especially in rural Colorado,” Rep. Pettersen said.
According to health policy research nonprofit KFF, 1,143,000 people are enrolled in Colorado Medicaid, 36% being children and 15% living in a rural area. A report from the Joint Economic Committee estimates that, depending on what specific amendments are kept or changed, 240,953 to 471,023 in Colorado could lose coverage if the bill is passed.
However, the White House claims Medicaid would not be cut under the bill.
A statement released June 29 regarding the bill says “there will be no cuts to Medicaid, and that the bill “protects and strengthens Medicaid for those who rely on it … while eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse,” by “[removing] illegal aliens, [enforcing] work requirements, and [protecting] Medicaid for the truly vulnerable.”
The Senate plan requires able-bodied adults to work 80 hours per month until age 65 to qualify for benefits. Even with the carve-outs for parents of children under 14 and those with disabilities included in the bill, the Congressional Budget Office estimates it could lead to nearly 12 million people losing health coverage.
The bill would also place a cap on, and then gradually reduce, the tax states can impose on Medicaid providers. The phase-out would begin in 2028, ultimately ending in a 3.5% cap on that tax. Some GOP Senators expressed concern with this provision, arguing that tax is critical for rural hospitals in particular and cutting it could risk their closure.
“Medicaid cuts would place significant financial pressure on hospitals in rural states, where many hospitals are already at risk of closure. In more than half of states, reductions in Medicaid funding for rural hospitals would exceed 20%,” according to the National Rural Health Association.
Although Senate GOP leaders have included a new $50 billion fund to support rural hospitals in the bill to alleviate some of those concerns, the National Rural Health Association notes an at least $8 billion gap remains.
Other estimates from the KFF suggest the remaining gap will be much larger, with rural areas possibly losing $155 billion in Medicaid spending over 10 years.
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Author: Kristina Watrobski
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