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Speak Up to Save Medicaid!

February 03, 2017

Kristen Dama L’07 is a staff attorney at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia where she advocates Medicaid law and policy. She encourages Pennsylvanians to contact Senators Toomey and Casey to ensure they do not support Medicaid cuts.

 

Raise Your Voice: Speak Up to Save Pennsylvania Medicaid!

In the coming weeks, Congress will decide if it will end Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.  It will also debate converting Medicaid to a block grant.

Tell your Pennsylvania Senators that you support Medicaid expansion and oppose proposals to convert Medicaid to a block grant!

Contacts:

  • Senator Pat Toomey (202) 224-4254 or (855) 552-1831
  • Senator Bob Casey, Jr. (202) 224-6324 or (866) 461-9159

Here’s what you can say when you call:

I am calling today because I support Medicaid.   It’s important to keep Medicaid expansion in place, to protect the 700,000 Pennsylvanians who rely on it to get and stay healthy.

I oppose federal proposals to convert Medicaid to a block grant.  A Medicaid block grant would lead to huge funding cuts for Pennsylvania.  It would not give Pennsylvania the right kind of flexibility to run its Medicaid program.  Instead, it would create a huge hole in Pennsylvania’s state budget, and it would force Pennsylvania to cut Medicaid benefits or limit enrollment.

As a Pennsylvania voter and taxpayer, I ask you to protect federal funding for Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program.                                                                                                                                                                             

Thank you.                                             

Here is some more information about Medicaid expansion and block grant proposals:

 Pennsylvania’s Medicaid expansion has been an enormous success.

  • Pennsylvania expanded Medicaid in 2015.  Medicaid expansion covers working Pennsylvanians who were uninsured because they did not qualify for Medicaid under pre-2015 rules, do not have coverage through their jobs, and cannot afford to buy coverage on their own.
  • In early 2017, Medicaid expansion enrollment will reach 700,000 Pennsylvanians.  Enrolling in Medicaid expansion helps people to get healthy and stay healthy, because they have coverage for “essential benefits” like preventive care, prescription drugs, and hospital stays.
  • Medicaid expansion also helps taxpayers and the economy.  It has saved more than $500 million in state funds by shifting people from state funded coverage.  It supports hospitals by allowing them to spend less on charity care.   It creates health care and social services jobs.

Converting the federal Medicaid program to a block grant would hurt Pennsylvania.

  • Through block grants, the federal government uses a formula to make set payments to states.  Funding increases are capped at low rates.  Block grants are designed to save federal dollars, by giving states less federal funding than they would receive under current program rules.
  • Pennsylvania’s Medicaid program already keeps costs as low as possible.  A block grant, with its severe cut in federal funding, would force Pennsylvania to cut benefits or make eligibility rules stricter.
  • Supporters argue that block grants would give states more flexibility in running their Medicaid programs, allowing them to innovate.  A Medicaid block grant would only give Pennsylvania one type of flexibility:  the “flexibility” to cut benefits or limit enrollment, in response to less federal funding.

Speak up for Pennsylvania Medicaid!

Tell your Pennsylvania Senators: 

  • Keep Medicaid expansion; and
  • Don’t block grant Medicaid.

 

More information about threats to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and other safety net programs can be found here.