Senate Bill Opens Door For States To Use Medicaid Funds On Roads, Bridges, Stadiums

Source: Talking Points Memo




By TIERNEY SNEED Published JUNE 27, 2017 12:09 PM

Language tucked deep in the Medicaid provisions of the Senate GOP Obamacare repeal legislation appears to allow states to funnel leftover Medicaid money for use on roads, bridges, stadiums and other projects not directly related to Medicaid’s traditional definition.

A GOP aide is already walking back the language, telling the Washington Post on Monday that it was “an inadvertent error” and that the language would be fixed before a final bill is filed for a vote.

Yet health care experts say that language points to the larger problems posed if states take congressional Republicans up on their offer to convert Medicaid’s structure into a lump sum system under the Senate GOP bill. “There’s all kinds of things that are wrong here, including this flexibility to use it for things that are not covered under Medicaid,” Judy Solomon, vice president for health policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told TPM.

The language appears on pages 93-95 of the Better Care Reconciliation Act, in a section giving states the option to take their Medicaid funding in what is known as a “block grant.” States also can choose a so-called “per capita cap” system, in which the feds set a limit on their Medicaid contribution on a per enrollee basis.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/senate-bill-medicaid-funding-roads-bridges-stadiums