(NewsNation) — Health care officials bracing for cuts to federal Medicaid spending are warning that the cuts could be potentially disastrous for some of America’s most vulnerable populations.
Congressional Republicans are considering $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, a joint federal-state program that provides care to about 72 million people in the United States. More than half of those on Medicaid are people of color, with disproportionate numbers of Black and Hispanic people in the program.
Studies have shown that Black and Hispanic patients are at a higher risk of developing conditions such as kidney disease, high blood pressure and some forms of cancer.
Dr. Ilan Shapiro, a Latino pediatrician and urgent care doctor in Los Angeles, told Stateline that he worries for his chronically ill patients. The majority of the patients he sees at his low-income health clinic are people of color on Medicaid.
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The Economic Policy Institute reported earlier this month that children could also be heavily affected if budget cuts were to impact Medicaid expansion or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The proposed decreases to Medicaid funding could increase the number of uninsured children by about 12%, the think tank found.
A quarter of Shapiro’s patients are children, Stateline reported.
“I’m deeply afraid,” Shapiro said. “It’s not just health insurance. It’s a lifeline for the entire family that could be severely impacted.”
Doctors like Shapiro, and clinics like the one where he works, could also be greatly affected. According to Stateline, Latino and Black physicians are more likely to take on Medicaid patients than white or Asian doctors.
The proposed budget cuts would also impact clinics that already rely on meager Medicaid reimbursements to stay open.
Will there be Medicaid cuts?
The Medicaid cuts would result from lawmakers attempting to offset the trillions of dollars in tax cuts proposed by the Trump administration. The Hill reported that the federal government is responsible for about 90% of the funding for states implementing Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.
According to CBS News, House leaders have vowed to spare Medicaid’s budget, but it remains unclear how they would otherwise manage the $1.5 trillion in cuts that would be needed under a budget resolution Congress passed earlier this year.
The resolution requires the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid, to find those savings over the next 10 years, the network reported. The cuts cannot come from Medicare, which provides coverage to senior citizens.
While Republicans have promised to leave Medicaid spending intact, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has determined that the needed savings would not be feasible without cutting the program. According to its report, Medicaid makes up 93% of the committee’s non-Medicare spending.
Cutting all spending outside of Medicare and Medicaid through 2034 would result in just $581 billion in savings.
The Hill reported that an analysis by liberal think tank The Center for American Progress determined that more than 34,000 additional deaths could result if the federal government reduces its 90% match.
Twelve of those states already have “trigger” laws in place that would end their expansion efforts if the federal government lowers that match rate.
