Senate Republicans want more cuts in Medicaid

At a time when a record 1.8 million Michigan residents rely on Medicaid for their health care and hospitals and doctors are increasingly reluctant to take Medicaid patients due to the low reimbursement rates, the Republican-led Michigan Senate wants to cut those payments even further rather than raising the necessary revenue to keep the primary health care system for low income people afloat. The Detroit Free Press reports:

The Senate also voted to cut $107 million from the Department of Community Health next year. That would cut Medicaid payments to physicians by 4% and drop 18- and 19-year-olds from Medicaid coverage.

So far, majority Senate Republicans have ignored Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s proposals for a sales tax on services and a 3% tax on physicians’ gross incomes. Those plans would generate an estimated $554 million more for public schools and some $700 million more for Medicaid payments.

The 3 percent tax on doctors would go to establish a Quality Assurance Assessment Program for Medicaid, which would raise about $300 million in revenue and bring in more than $500 million in federal matching funds. It might also encourage more doctors to take Medicaid patients because it would increase the income of those doctors who derive at least 4 percent of their income from Medicaid.

Instead, the Senate wants to forgo hundreds of millions of dollars in matching funds and further cut Medicaid reimbursement rates. Those rates that are already far lower than the rates paid by private insurers — a reality that is causing hospitals around the state to close down their obstetrics units, leaving more and more pregnant women without access to pre- and post-natal care that is vital to the health of mother and child.