Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Health

House Reconciliation Bill Would Cause 350,000 People to Forgo Health Coverage

The House-passed reconciliation bill includes a change in the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies that would cause 350,000 people to forgo coverage and make it more difficult for the health reform law’s insurance exchanges to function effectively. Read more

Medicaid Block Grant Plan Would Cut Medicaid by One-Third by 2022

The Medicaid block-grant proposal in the Ryan budget that the House of Representatives has passed would cut federal Medicaid funding by 34 percent by 2022 (on top of repealing the health reform law's Medicaid expansion).

Last year, when Chairman Ryan included a similar Medicaid block-grant proposal in his budget, the Urban Institute estimated it would lead states to drop between 14 million and 27 million people from Medicaid by 2021 (in addition to the 17 million people who would no longer gain coverage because of the repeal of the health reform law's Medicaid expansion). Read more

State Data: What if the Ryan Medicaid Block Grant Had Taken Effect in 2001?

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal to convert Medicaid to a block grant, which the House recently passed as part of Chairman Ryan’s overall budget plan, would have cut federal Medicaid funds to most states by more than 35 percent by 2010 — and to several of them by more than 50 percent — if it had been in effect starting in 2001. Read more

Topics

Basics

Medicaid is a federal-state public insurance program that provides health coverage to nearly 65 million low-income Americans, including children, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities. The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) gives states matching federal funds to provide health coverage to nearly 8 million children in families whose income is modestly above Medicaid limits, typically up to 200 percent of the poverty line. Medicare is a federal program that provides health coverage to about 47 million Americans, primarily individuals age 65 and older but also including several million younger adults with permanent disabilities. The Affordable Care Act, the health reform law passed in 2010, will help an estimated 32 million uninsured Americans obtain quality, affordable health coverage in both the private and public markets.

Policy Basics:
- Introduction to Medicaid

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The Center works to ensure that federal and state health insurance programs provide coverage that meets the health care needs of low-income children and families, as well as seniors and people with disabilities. The Center also works to remove barriers preventing eligible families from gaining access to health coverage.