Ryan Medicaid Block Grant Plan Would Lead To disasterous Results

From a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget plan, which the House passed on April 15, would dramatically restructure Medicaid by converting it to a block grant and cutting the program’s funding sharply.  According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Ryan budget would reduce federal funding by 35 percent in 2022 and by 49 percent in 2030, compared to what the funding would otherwise be.  This would almost certainly affect tens of millions of low-income Medicaid beneficiaries adversely over time.

To compensate for the steep reductions in federal funding, states would either have to contribute far more in their own funds, or, as is much more likely, exercise the new flexibility under the block grant to cap enrollment, substantially scale back eligibility, and curtail benefits for seniors, people with disabilities, children, and other low-income Americans who rely on Medicaid for their health care coverage.

Click here to read the whole report.