What to Know
- Gov. Josh Shapiro is warning that cuts to Medicaid health care that Congress is considering would mean billions of dollars in lost federal aid to Pennsylvania, hundreds of thousands of people losing access to the program and more rural hospitals shutting their doors.
- Shapiro said Wednesday that the state will be unable to make up that amount of lost federal aid.
- Estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office show that at least 7.6 million people could lose health insurance with the proposed Medicaid cuts.
- The precise contours of cuts to Medicaid are being hammered out in the GOP-controlled U.S. House.
- Republicans say they're trying to make Medicaid work better.
Gov. Josh Shapiro warned Wednesday that the Medicaid cuts Congress is considering would mean billions of dollars in lost federal aid to Pennsylvania, hundreds of thousands of people losing access to the health insurance program and more struggling rural hospitals shutting their doors.
Stream Philadelphia News for free, 24/7, wherever you are with NBC10.
WATCH HEREShapiro, a Democrat who is considered a potential White House contender in 2028, said that if the cuts are made, the state would be unable to make up that amount of lost federal aid.
“I just need to stress: there is no back-filling at the state level,” Shapiro told WILK-FM radio in Wilkes-Barre. "There are no dollars available at the state level to make up for these cuts at the federal level. So if they cut someone off Medicaid, they’re off. We will not be able to fix that for them.”
Wawa Welcome America newsletter: your guide to 16 days of free events celebrating freedom and liberty.
SIGN UP Besides hundreds of thousands of people losing access to Medicaid in Pennsylvania, billions of dollars in funding cuts would accelerate the shuttering of rural hospitals “which are teetering on the brink of closure,” Shapiro said.
Pennsylvania is already facing a thorny situation with Medicaid costs.
Shapiro’s proposed budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 seeks $2.5 billion more for Medicaid after budget-makers belatedly realized that the people remaining on Medicaid rolls after the COVID-19 pandemic are sicker than anticipated — and costlier to care for.
The governor does have a cushion of about $10.5 billion in reserve, thanks to federal COVID-19 relief and inflation-juiced tax collections over the past few years.
His administration is also trying to reduce the fast-rising amount Pennsylvania pays for popular GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy, Ozempic and Zepbound, as are a number of other states.
Medicaid is a federal-state partnership that helps pay for the health care of low-income people of any age and long-term nursing care. There are 72 million enrollees nationwide, including 3 million in Pennsylvania, or almost one in four Pennsylvanians. Its annual cost is approaching $1 trillion, including about $50 billion in Pennsylvania.
The precise contours of forthcoming cuts to Medicaid are being hammered out in the Republican-controlled U.S. House as part of a bill package that includes tax breaks of more than $5 trillion and sizable reductions in food stamps and programs to fight climate change.
As part of it, Republicans are proposing cuts of nearly $800 billion over the decade to Medicaid.
Estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office show that at least 7.6 million people could lose health insurance with the Medicaid cuts.
Republicans say they are trying to make Medicaid work better by rooting out waste and inefficiencies. Shapiro disputed that, saying voting to cut Medicaid spending is "voting to cut their constituents off from lifesaving health care access.”
Crozer Health
Shapiro spoke in front of the now-closed Crozer-Chester Medical Center on Thursday, where he called for the state's Congress to approve a bill that would bar private equity firms from owning hospitals.
"The singular goal of a private equity firm is to turn a profit, not to deliver quality care, not to care for their community," Shapiro said.
The bill would also ban for-profit hospitals from doing a sale-lease back, where they sell the land the hospital is on and then they lease the property, which could bring a profit at the time but cause financial problems in the future.
Shapiro's office says the sale-lease back scenario is what happened at Crozer. The governor's office has said they are working to reopen the hospital and have committed $1 million to keep EMS services still running in Delco.
The proposed legislation would also give the state's attorney general more authority in reviewing and blocking the sale of hospitals to for-profit companies.
The association that represents hospitals and health systems in Pennsylvania sent NBC10 a statement basically saying that everyone needs to do more to address the problems facing the healthcare industry.
Shapiro said both sides have to act now to prevent more healthcare deserts in the state.
"I'll be damned if I'm going to let lobbyists stymie this effort," Shapiro said. "We got to put people before powerful interests in Pennsylvania. Stand up to those who have stopped progress and get this done."
