The U.S. Senate’s version of the budget reconciliation package took a bad bill and made it worse. The Senate package, passed this morning by a tiebreaker vote of 51-50, would cut almost $1 trillion from the Medicaid program over the next 10 years and result in close to 12 million people losing their health insurance coverage. This would have a ripple effect on the entire health care system, increasing costs for everyone.
With any federal funding cuts to Medicaid, decision-makers in Wisconsin will have to make choices from four options: 1) change who can (or can’t) get care, 2) change what care people can get, 3) change how much people get paid to provide that care, or 4) use additional state dollars to keep care the same. The Medicaid provisions in the budget reconciliation bill do not provide protections for any populations. The burden of costs would be put on states and there would be devastating impacts on the health, safety, and wellbeing of millions of Americans.
As the bill heads back to the House of Representatives, the Wisconsin Medicaid Coalition continues to say: if this legislation passes, Wisconsin and Wisconsinites would pay – in state funding, in health care costs, and – for some members of our communities – in lives.
The Wisconsin Medicaid Coalition has approximately 300 participants from more than 150 entities, including counties, tribes, health care providers, advocates, and those representing impacted populations, concerned about the impact of major changes to Medicaid being considered at the federal level.
Contacts:
- Lisa Hassenstab, Disability Rights Wisconsin, lisah@drwi.org, 608-308-2639
- Tami Jackson, Wisconsin Board for People with Developmental Disabilities, Tamara.jackson@wisconsin.gov, (608) 228-7285
