G.O.P. Republicans are weighing options in order to gain support for their proposed health bill including keeping a tax on high income people and providing more money to combat the opioid epidemic and a new incentive for people to establish tax-free savings accounts for medical expenses. Another proposal they are considering would allow insurers to sell cheaper less comprehensive health plans if they also offered health plans that complied with consumer protection standards like those in the Affordable Care Act. If the proposed bill passes, what is sure is that projected Medicaid spending would be reduced 35 percent after 20 years. For the entire article, follow our link. Contact Gosselin & Kyriakidis for assistance in long-term planning.

Projected Drop in Medicaid Spending Heightens Hurdle for G.O.P. Health Bill

By Robert Pear and Thomas Kaplan | New York Times

Projected Medicaid spending under a Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would be 35 percent lower after two decades, the Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday in a new report, which detailed how Medicaid changes would cut more deeply as they go fully into force.

The budget office analysis created a fresh challenge for Republican leaders as they tried to muster support for their bill, even as senators scattered to their home states for a 10-day July 4 recess. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, entertained a stream of senators on Thursday, trying to reach agreement on the contents of a revised bill.

But by the end of Thursday, Mr. McConnell’s caucus still appeared far from a consensus, and it was unclear when a new version of the bill would be ready.

The nonpartisan budget office had already said that the bill would cut projected Medicaid spending 26 percent in 2026. “A large gap would grow between Medicaid spending under current law and under this bill,” the new report said, and that gap would widen, so that federal Medicaid spending in 2036 would be more than a third lower under the bill than under the Affordable Care Act. [Read entire article]