Earlier this month, Colorado Senator Cory Gardner said that he wants to “make sure Medicaid is sustainable” and ensure that “those who truly need help” are not “crowded out” by other interests. However, the latest version of the health care bill that Senator Gardner helped draft, released today, does exactly the opposite. It slashes funding for Medicaid by $756 billion over the next decade while giving $364 billion in tax breaks to the wealthy and health care industry. Contrary to his statements, Senator Gardner has not come out against a bill that “crowds out” 628,000 low-income Coloradans from health coverage and cuts more than $15 billion in federal funding from Colorado’s Medicaid program.
According to a recent national poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 65 percent of people covered by Medicaid say the program is working well. And even Republican pollsters have found that more than 3 out of 4 Coloradans think funding for the Medicaid program should be increased or maintained – not decimated like Gardner is proposing. There’s a reason people in Colorado and across the country support Medicaid – it provides affordable, life-saving health care to some of the most vulnerable people in our state.
Medicaid enrollees include people with disabilities; people in need of long-term care; low-income children and pregnant women; young adults working to better themselves by pursuing higher education; and low-income workers who do not get health coverage from their employers and would not be able to afford coverage on their own. Coloradans living in rural areas disproportionately benefit from the availability of Medicaid coverage, and rural hospitals rely on Medicaid payments to keep their doors open. Medicaid helps improve health and economic outcomes for all of these populations and reduces uncompensated care costs, which drive up health care costs for everyone.
Senator Gardner has a choice. He does not need to pit Medicaid populations against one another. But if he votes to cut $756 billion from the Medicaid program, he will be choosing to do just that. According to analysis by the nonpartisan Colorado Health Institute, it is likely that state lawmakers’ only option to fully address the drop in federal funding to Colorado would be to drastically cut Coloradans from the Medicaid program. That will not change even if, as reports suggest, the Senate pumps another $200 billion into the Medicaid program in an effort to buy off votes – that would still amount to a more than half a trillion dollar cut to the program. This limited infusion of additional funding would also do nothing to address the harsh funding cuts in future decades.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in March, Senator Gardner said “[Medicaid] reform should not come at the cost of disruption in access to health care for our country’s most vulnerable and sickest individuals” and that the bill passed by the “House does not meet the test of stability for individuals currently enrolled in the program.” He has also said that while he wants to end Medicaid eligibility for newly covered, low-income Coloradans, he wants to create a “glide path” to give these people enough time to find other coverage. And yet, Senator Gardner is poised to support a bill in the Senate that is almost identical to the House bill in its negative impact on Medicaid funding and enrollment. These changes would be abrupt, with 4 million people expected to lose Medicaid coverage next year. Senator Gardner, it is time for your actions to reflect your words: oppose chaos and stand up for health care in our state. Vote no on health care repeal.
Christina Postolowski is the Rocky Mountain Regional Director at Young Invincibles, a policy and advocacy organization committed to expanding economic opportunity for young adults.