In a recent opinion in The New York Times, "The Republican Plan to Bury Medicaid Beneficiaries in Paperwork," Don Moynihan and Pamela Herd shed light on the added administrative burdens hidden within the House budget bill. Caught between the need to extend President Trump's tax breaks and preserve Medicaid, House Republicans propose to increase administrative burdens to ensure large coverage loss and shed millions of beneficiaries, they explained.
"To control the political damage, Republicans are pursuing a strategy to reduce benefits, while pretending otherwise. They've mostly abandoned transparent cuts, such as eligibility changes or spending reductions to states, because it's easy for voters to understand that damage. Instead, Republicans are opting for opaque cuts, which will shed millions of eligible beneficiaries by overwhelming them with pointless paperwork and other needlessly complicated administrative requirements."
The House bill reverses 15 years of Medicaid reforms to simplify applications, eliminate confusing paperwork, and automate processes, they said.
"Republicans claim that such burdens serve virtuous policy goals, like reducing fraud and welfare dependency. But if millions of people are going to lose access to health insurance, let's at least be honest about how this is likely to play out and why Republicans are pushing this agenda. The push to make public health insurance less accessible is driven not by concerns about what best serves the public. Instead, the most vulnerable will be made worse off, all to fund a tax cut that most benefits the rich."
Read "The Republican Plan to Bury Medicaid Beneficiaries in Paperwork," in The New York Times.
