The federal tax and budget megabill cuts Medicaid by nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade. The reduced spending on the public health insurance program for poor, elderly and disabled people will be used to partially offset the cost of tax breaks and other benefits for wealthy people and large corporations. The New York Times’ Margot Sanger-Katz and Sarah Kliff provide a helpful rundown of how the new work reporting requirements will work and how they will affect coverage and employment:
The Congressional Budget Office, which advises Congress on the effects of legislation, estimated that nearly five million people will become uninsured over the next decade as a result of this policy. The budget office estimates that the policy will not increase the number of Medicaid beneficiaries who work. Studies show that a large majority of adults with Medicaid coverage already either work the minimum number of hours or meet criteria for one of the exceptions.
Work reporting requirements will not increase employment, while creating new administrative headaches for states:
It requires dozens of states to quickly build expensive and complex software systems that can measure and track who is eligible. They will also probably need to create sweeping outreach campaigns — to make Medicaid enrollees aware of the changes — and increase call center staffing to handle an influx of questions about the new rules. States will be working on a sped-up timeline. The original Republican policy bill envisioned 2029 as the starting point for work requirements, but the date was moved up by two years to appease more conservative legislators seeking larger budgetary savings.
A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains how states’ policy choices and implementation decisions can reduce coverage losses.
Insurance troubles continue years after Hurricane Ida
When a dozen Louisiana property insurers went bankrupt after a string of costly hurricanes in 2020 and 2021, thousands of residents were left without crucial homeowner’s coverage. Zoya Teirstein of Grist tells the story of the Bye family’s harrowing experience:
On paper, the family did everything right. They had homeowners insurance through an A+ rated, Better Business Bureau-accredited insurer called FedNat Insurance Company and kept up with their payments — some of the highest in the country. What they didn’t account for was what might happen if their insurance company couldn’t make its payments. … “How do you do that to people?” [Jennifer] Bye asked. “How do you insure people in the South, take all of these premiums, and then just belly-up?”
Many Louisiana households have been pushed to the state-backed insurer of last resort, which by law charges policyholders above-market rates. These programs, called Fair Access to Insurance Requirements plans, or FAIR plans, are not a long-term solution. Teirstein reports on a better alternative:
When these state programs have a surplus, meaning they earn more money than they pay out in a given year, they typically disburse those funds back to the private insurance companies that pay into the plan. Instead, [Natural Resources Defense Council Alfonso] Pating said, FAIR plans could use that money to provide subsidies for low-income homeowners in high-risk areas who want to make their homes more resilient but can’t afford to. They could offer voluntary relocation assistance to move people out of areas that are guaranteed to keep flooding and burning.
Citizen-led pollution monitoring persists in Louisiana
Louisiana’s Department of Environmental Quality only has 40 stationary air monitoring sensors in one of the most polluted states in the country. The Louisiana Environmental Action Network and other citizen-led efforts have attempted to fill this gap by conducting their own air monitoring. The Illuminator’s Elise Plunk reports on the effort:
The Louisiana-based nonprofit, long involved with community air monitoring projects, recently posted on its website an interactive air monitoring dashboard. The site gives continuous updates from air quality sensors placed at four locations along the Mississippi River in the heavily industrialized corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. The dashboard also lists locations and readings from Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality monitors. The system, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, uses stationary air quality sensors to measure spikes in air pollutant levels.
State legislators passed a law in 2024 that prevents data from such community-led efforts to be counted and used for enforcement or regulatory actions:
Air-monitoring equipment and analysis must use the most current EPA-approved techniques, and data must be analyzed at labs the Louisiana Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program certifies, according to the legislation dubbed the Community Air Monitoring Reliability Act. Environmental groups argue these standards, which can be costly, prices them out of being able to do research. The cost for the state’s preferred monitoring equipment runs up to $500,000 dollars, said former EPA official Larry Starfield, an adviser to Orr’s monitoring dashboard project.
Colorado voters boost free school meal program
Colorado voters approved two ballot measures on Tuesday that boost a state program that provides free school meals to students. The proposals increase funding for the Healthy School Meals for All program, which voters approved in 2022. The Denver Post’s Seth Klamann reports:
Prop. LL would allow the meals program to keep money it’s already collected. Voter approval was needed under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights. Prop. MM will provide an infusion of money for the program by increasing taxes paid by individuals making more than $300,000 annually. It’s estimated that MM, by significantly lowering the amount those taxpayers can deduct from their income for state taxes, would raise $95 million per year for school meals.
Number of the Day
21% – Percentage of homebuyers between July 2024 and June 2025 who were buying a home for the first time, a new low. Older, repeat buyers continue to dominate the housing market. (Source: National Association of Realtors via Stateline)