A new report finds that Colorado could lose out on more than $9 billion in federal funding for Medicaid over the first decade of a proposal the U.S. Senate is Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to hold a vote Tuesday on whether to begin debating a repeal of the Affordable Care Act — the health care measure that expanded Medicaid access to people slightly above the poverty line and that is also known as Obamacare. If that passes, the Senate would launch into debates on a variety of proposals for how to repeal the ACA, though exactly what they will be voting on.
Among the possibilities up for consideration is a McConnell-backed plan called the Better Care Reconciliation Act, which would, among other things, restrict the federal government’s contribution to state Medicaid programs in the coming years. A new report from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found that Colorado would receive in federal Medicaid funding between 2020 and 2029 than it would receive if the ACA remained law.
That shortfall is less than what the Colorado Health Institute came up with . The institute, which is also nonpartisan, estimated that Colorado would see $15 billion less in federal funding over the measure’s first decade.
Colorado’s senators are split on the measure. Sen. Cory Gardner, a Republican, at the Western Conservative Summit that cuts to Medicaid may be necessary, “to make sure that we focus our health care efforts on those who need it the most.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, on Saturday that, “The GOP plan would destabilize insurance markets and devastate Colorado families.”
