Category: MPCA News

Congress has proposed cutting $715 billion from Medicaid, considering imposing work requirements on people receiving their insurance through Medicaid.

However, this policy’s track record indicates that it may not deliver the savings the GOP desires. Instead, it will terminate healthcare for many and subject providers to unpaid medical bills.

Limited real-world experience suggests that Medicaid work requirements don’t promote employment or save large sums of money, but do cause many enrollees to lose coverage, such as what happened in Arkansas in 2018 and 2019.

Some 18,000 people lost coverage in Arkansas during that time, including many who qualified but were unable to navigate the bureaucracy of work requirements. Many people who should have been eligible got bumped purely over reporting issues, especially beneficiaries with chronic illnesses and other issues that made compliance difficult.

Similarly, the work requirements in Georgia’s “Pathways to Coverage” program aren’t faring any better. They anticipated 100,000 participants, but this month it was revealed that it has just 4,903. That meager enrollment is the product of spending $86 million to have Deloitte Consulting build a verification system that Georgia hasn’t actually used to enforce work requirements.

The 2023 House-passed Limit Save Grow (LSG) bill, which serves as the model for potential work legislation as part of the FY 2025 budget reconciliation, would ban flexible state approaches.  Instead, LSG would function as a massive, mandatory, nonwaivable federal funding clawback.

LSG has no phased-in implementation. States’ obligations would begin immediately on enactment, without time to put into place the automated information systems they will need to compile person-based monthly compliance data (for either work or exemptions) throughout a calendar year.

The only health exemption would be for people documented to be “physically or mentally unfit” for employment.  Even SSI/SSDI beneficiaries would not be exempt under this standard, since many people with disabilities do work.

Take action now to protect Medicaid from cuts: https://hcadvocacy.quorum.us/campaign/ProtectMedicaid/

Sources:

https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/limit-save-grow-medicaid-work-mandate-legislation-worst-way-operationalize-bad-policy

https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-policy/medicaid-work-requirements-arkansas-georgia

New statewide polling shows 83% of Michiganders want to see Medicaid spending increased or kept about the same as Congress considers cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from the Medicaid program, which would terminate healthcare for thousands of Michigan residents. The local results mirror national polls from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Modern Medicaid Alliance, and others consistently showing a lack of support for Medicaid cuts. 

EPIC·MRA, with support from the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan, Michigan Association of Health Plans, Michigan Health & Hospital Association, Michigan Primary Care Association, and Protect MI Care, conducted the new statewide poll to determine where Michiganders stand on proposed cuts to Medicaid.  

Across political views and party affiliations, the percentage of Michiganders who want to see Medicaid spending decreased does not exceed 20% for any specific group, with only 19% of self-identifying Republicans seeking reduced Medicaid support.  

Results reveal that 62% of Michigan residents believe the changes Congress is considering making to the Medicaid program are more about reducing federal spending than improving how the program works for people. Furthermore, 82% of Michigan residents oppose cutting Medicaid spending to pay for tax cuts, and 71% oppose cutting Medicaid in ways that would create a deficit in Michigan’s state budget. 

Reflecting on the significance of Medicaid in Michigan, the poll found that 86% of Michigan residents feel Medicaid is important for people in their local community and 76% express that Medicaid is important for their family members and friends. Michiganders’ feelings about the impact of Medicaid in their communities showed up statewide, with over 80% of people agreeing that Medicaid is important in their community across all regions of the state (From 86% in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties to 91% in West Michigan, 80% in Central Michigan, and 87% in Northern Michigan). 

“This data sends a clear message: Michiganders from across the state and all walks of life see Medicaid as the important lifeline it is,” said MPCA CEO Phillip Bergquist. “Medicaid cuts under consideration in Congress threaten the health and financial stability of families across our state, and Michiganders don’t support them.” 

2.6 million people get their health insurance through Medicaid in Michigan, representing approximately one in four Michiganders. Medicaid provides coverage for 38% of births in Michigan, 2 in 5 children, 3 in 5 nursing home residents, and 3 in 8 working-age adults with disabilities. And, Michigan’s Medicaid program is efficient, with per-enrollee costs among the ten lowest states in the country. 

To arrange interviews with MPCA or member health centers that would be impacted by potential Medicaid cuts, please contact Luke LaBenne at [email protected] or 517.827.0883.  

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) today released a new report detailing the severe impact of proposed Medicaid cuts on health outcomes across the state — a development the Michigan Primary Care Association (MPCA) warns is putting vulnerable communities at even greater risk.

MPCA is the voice of 48 member health centers that provide healthcare through over 400 locations across the state and serve one in every 15 Michigan residents. Michigan’s health centers- sometimes called Federally Qualified Health Centers, Tribal Health Centers, or Urban Indian Organizations- are community-based health organizations that deliver comprehensive primary care and other medical services, dental care, behavioral health care, substance use care, vision care, and more for patients of all ages in rural, urban, and tribal communities across the state of Michigan. Health centers operate as mission-driven, non-profit healthcare providers serving areas and populations that experience recognized challenges accessing healthcare or having sufficient healthcare providers in their area.

On a statewide basis, patients who get their health insurance through Medicaid make up 51% of all Michigan health center patients. Health centers’ patient populations in Bay, Berrien, Calhoun, Cass, Genesee, Grand Traverse, Ingham, Jackson, Kent, Macomb, Monroe, Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Oakland, Saginaw, and Wayne counties could be particularly impacted by proposed changes to the Medicaid program. Health centers serve more adult Medicaid patients in those areas, and many potential Medicaid changes focus on adults.

Proposed changes to the Medicaid program could also negatively impact the stability of health center services. Health centers, which already operate on thin margins, now face even more difficult decisions about staffing, services, and facility operations. Without urgent action to restore and strengthen Medicaid coverage, MPCA warns that more clinics could be forced to scale back critical programs or even close their doors.

This would lead to worse health outcomes throughout the state, including:

• A measurable increase in emergency room visits for preventable conditions
• Decreased access to prenatal and maternal care in underserved areas
• Higher rates of untreated chronic illnesses, particularly diabetes and hypertension
• Financial instability for primary care providers serving low-income populations

“Our health centers are safety nets for their communities,” said MPCA CEO, Phillip Bergquist, “We need to protect Medicaid from cuts not only to keep Michiganders healthy but also to safeguard public health.”

Most of the resources that health centers have to serve their communities come from being reimbursed for the patient services they deliver, and statewide Medicaid makes up 63% of patient services revenue in health centers annually. Losing a meaningful portion of Medicaid revenue could jeopardize the sustainability of some health center services and locations for everyone, not only people who get their health insurance through Medicaid.

If enacted, adult work requirements could result in 52,000 Michigan health center patients who get their health insurance through Medicaid losing coverage and health centers seeing a reduction in revenue of around $38.3 million annually. For comparison, that revenue loss would be equivalent to losing 30% of the federal health center program funding Michigan health centers receive annually, endangering the availability of essential care for tens of thousands of people.

MPCA calls on lawmakers to protect Medicaid from cuts, which would have dire consequences for communities throughout Michigan.

For a copy of the MDHHS report or to arrange interviews with health center leaders impacted by the cuts, please contact Luke LaBenne at [email protected] or 517.827.0883.