Congress is considering $880 billion in cuts to the Medicaid program – cuts that would partially offset more than $5 trillion in proposed tax cuts that will primarily benefit the wealthy and large, profitable corporations. One idea is to eliminate the 90% federal match rate for states that have expanded Medicaid eligibility through the Affordable Care Act. CNN’s Ronald Brownstein explains the consequences:
But the Urban Institute, a center-left think tank, has projected that nearly 11 million people would lose health coverage if Congress revokes the enhanced Medicaid funding for the working poor. If states tried to maintain the current eligibility levels with their own funds, the Urban Institute found, it would require them to increase their Medicaid spending by about 25% annually, a virtual impossibility. Meanwhile, it would become much harder for people kicked off Medicaid to obtain coverage instead through the Obamacare exchanges if Republicans allow the enhanced ACA subsidies approved under President Joe Biden to expire this year, as they have signaled is likely.
As Brownstein explains, Medicaid expansion has been a lifeline for Louisiana health care providers:
While rural hospitals are struggling in many states, he notes, none have closed in Louisiana since the expansion. “If you drive around Louisiana,” [Invest in Louisiana Executive Director Jan Moller] added, “you will see a lot of clinics … where they didn’t exist 10 to 15 years ago.” Revoking expansion funding, Moller said, “would be devastating for Louisiana’s budget, and it would seriously threaten health care access for the 1 in 3 Lousianians who depend on Medicaid.” Even people with private insurance or Medicare would be hurt, Moller added, if reduced Medicaid revenue forces hospitals and other providers to close, particularly in rural areas with fewer alternatives.
Pushback to TOPS tweaks
The widow of the creator of the popular TOPS college scholarship program told state lawmakers that she is opposed to legislation that would tweak award amounts. Under Rep. Chris Turner’s House Bill 77, scholarships would no longer be based on a school’s tuition and instead be allocated at a flat rate. The result would be that students attending less expensive, regional schools would pay less, but those attending more expensive universities, would pay more. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Piper Hutchinson reports:
[Phyllis] Taylor made her position on Turner’s bill clear; she’s unhappy with the proposal that would hurt LSU students, who make up the majority of TOPS recipients in the state. She reminded the committee that while they may want to reward the best and brightest, TOPS was meant to provide an opportunity for all students – not just those with the best ACT scores. “Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water and jeopardize a program as a whole in order to maybe provide for a few that might not be as contributing to our state as we need,” Taylor said.
OSHA office closure in ‘Cancer Alley’
Elon Musk’s DOGE is closing the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s office in Baton Rouge. Marcus Baram of Capital & Main explains how the move will make Louisiana, which is already one of the most dangerous states to work in, even less safe:
Former OSHA Director David Michaels said by closing the office, “those enormous oil and petrochemical facilities with significant safety and health hazards will be inspected even less frequently than they are now.” … In addition to the Baton Rouge office, which conducted 386 workplace inspections over the last year and assessed more than $750,000 in penalties for serious violations, DOGE is also planning to close field offices in Houston and Mobile, Alabama. “These closures will result in more injuries, illnesses and deaths,” Michaels said.
Expiration of rental assistance threatens evictions
Approximately 60,000 Americans could face evictions later this year when funding for a federal rental assistance program expires. Funding for the Emergency Housing Vouchers program – a Biden-era initiative that pays for rent for families and individuals who are fleeing homelessness, domestic violence and human trafficking – was supposed to last until the end of the decade, but skyrocketing rent prices have depleted most of those dollars. The AP’s Jesse Bedayn reports:
It would be among the largest one-time losses of rental assistance in the U.S., analysts say, and the ensuing evictions could churn these people — after several years of rebuilding their lives — back onto the street or back into abusive relationships. “To have it stop would completely upend all the progress that they’ve made,” said Sonya Acosta, policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which researches housing assistance. “And then you multiply that by 59,000 households,” she said.
Congress could still decide to fund the program during federal budget negotiations, but the prospects appear dim:
(I)t’s a relatively expensive prospect at a time when Republicans, who control Congress, are dead set on cutting federal spending to afford tax cuts. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, who championed the program four years ago, is pushing for another $8 billion infusion. But the organizations lobbying Republican and Democratic lawmakers to reup the funding told the AP they aren’t optimistic.
Number of the Day
6.3% – Percentage share of U.S Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development funding as a share of Louisiana state spending in 2023, which was the highest in the nation. (Source: Carnegie Disaster Dollar Database via Axios New Orleans)